Of particular relevance to me, since my heart problems started a few years ago, and I’ve been prescribed these.
FEARS over the side-effects of heart drugs used by four million Britons have sparked a two-year investigation.
Statins have been hailed as a “wonder drug” for reducing cholesterol and preventing tens of thousands of heart attacks and strokes.
But experts are becoming worried by the unpleasant reactions that some patients are experiencing.
Scientists at Nottingham University have been given £250,000 to investigate the problem. They want patients over 65 who suffer from muscle aches – a common side-effect – to help them with their work.
Statins have been hailed as a “wonder drug”
Statins are already known to cause tummy upsets, liver problems and muscle pains in some users as well as a rare but serious lung disorder.
Packets warn patients of these side-effects but last year manufacturers were forced to add new cautions, telling patients that statins can sometimes cause memory loss, sexual problems, depression and disturbed sleep.
The research team wants to discover why people are suffering such unpleasant reactions to the drugs and how widespread the problem is.
The side-effects have not deterred the use of statins by the National Health Service.
Later this year, family doctors will be asked to screen everyone over the age of 40 for their risk of cardiovascular disease and prescribe statins to those most at risk – an estimated 1.4 million more Britons.
A Government adviser has claimed that the cholesterol-lowering drugs should be offered to all men over 50 and women over 60 as a “short cut” to prevent heart disease.
Roger Boyle, the national director for heart disease and stroke, said a blanket approach that would give everyone above a certain age a daily dose of statins would save lives, money and doctors’ time.
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A new analysis suggests that broader statin use among adult patients may be a cost-effective way to prevent heart attack and stroke. The Stanford University School of Medicine study also found that using a popular test — a screening for high sensitivity C-reactive protein, or CRP — to identify patients who may benefit from statin therapy would be cost-effective, but only under certain scenarios.
“If statins are really as safe and effective as they appear to be, broadening the indications for statin therapy would be an effective and cost-effective strategy,” said Mark Hlatky, MD, professor of health research and policy and of cardiovascular medicine. “But under different assumptions, targeted CRP screening would be a reasonable approach,” Hlatky is the senior author of the findings, published online Sept. 27 in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.
The study comes almost two years after a major clinical trial, known as the JUPITER study, showed that millions more people could benefit from taking statins, even if they have low cholesterol. That study involved patients with low cholesterol levels but elevated levels of CRP, which indicates inflammation in the body and suggests a greater risk of heart attack and stroke.
They have been hailed as the wonder drug in the frontline fight against heart disease. But are statins, the cholesterol-lowering tablets prescribed to around six million people in the UK alone, a scourge or a saviour? Only recently, health warnings were issued over potential side effects, including sleep-disturbance, depression and memory problems. Yet statins are credited by the British Heart Foundation with saving 10,000 lives a year. So should we be taking them? Here, two leading experts argue both sides of the case. . .
A cholesterol-busting pill that could cut the risk of heart attacks and strokes without the unpleasant side-effects of statins has been developed by scientists.
Eprotirome tablets rapidly lowered cholesterol and other dangerous blood fats in men and women for whom statins were not working well.
Levels of artery-clogging cholesterol fell by up to a third – an effect equal to doubling the amount of statins, the respected New England Journal of Medicine reports.
Crucially, the drug was free of the side-effects associated with statins, including muscle and liver problems, depression, loss of libido and difficulty sleeping.
Eprotirome works in a different way to statins, meaning it is likely to be of use to those who suffer side-effects when taking the popular drugs.
Routinely prescribed to survivors of heart attacks and strokes and to those whose cholesterol is much higher than normal, statins are credited with saving up to 10,000 lives a year by reducing the build-up of cholesterol in arteries.
A POPULAR heart drug taken by six million Britons increases the risk of diabetes, a study shows.
Statins, which help to lower cholesterol levels, have been shown to boost the diabetes risk by nine per cent in over-60s.
The authors believe the benefits of statins still far outweigh the risks for this age group.
But their findings have prompted concern over a Government plan to prescribe statins to millions of patients as young as 40 based on their long-term risk of heart disease.
Family doctors have been told to assess all patients aged between 40 and 74 for their 10-year risk of developing heart problems. Anyone with even as little as a 20 per cent risk should be offered statins.
Doctors have been concerned for many years that statins may increase the risk of diabetes.
But studies have been inconclusive. Some suggest they do raise the risk while others say they actually protect against the condition. Now a meta-analysis – combining the results of 13 trials – suggests that for every person who developed diabetes, five will have avoided a heart attack or heart disease thanks to the pills.
But the researchers say they do not know why the drugs might cause diabetes or if it is simply down to chance.