GPs should think more carefully about prescribing cholesterol-busting drugs say researchers who highlighted a range of “unintended” side effects.
Some doses and types of statins are linked with a greater risk of adverse effects, including liver problems and kidney failure, the UK research showed.
Doctors will have access to a computer program based on the findings to help spot those most at risk.
Millions of UK adults take the drugs to reduce heart attack and stroke risk.
The researchers, from the University of Nottingham, stressed that for many people the benefits of statins outweighed any adverse effects, but the findings would help weigh up the pros and cons in each patient.
Statins have been hailed as a “wonder drug”
They found that some of the drugs posed other problems, such as an increased risk of liver dysfunction, acute kidney failure, muscle damage known as myopathy and cataracts.
Previously known side-effects include constipation or diarrhoea, headaches, insomnia, loss of appetite and loss of sensation or pain in some nerve endings.
However, in response to the research, experts and charity figures said statins still did more good than harm, and their ability to save lives far outweighed the risks.
Data from 368 GP practices was used in the study, which involved more than two million patients aged 30 to 84. Of those, 10.7% were new users of statins, 70.7% used simvastatin, 22.3% used atorvastatin, 3.6% used pravastatin, 1.9% used rosuvastatin and 1.4% used fluvastatin.
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June 7th, 2010 at 6:34 am
The number of British adults taking cholesterol-lowering statins has doubled to six million in the past five years despite concerns that they are being over-used and have unpleasant side-effects.
Statin supporters point out that they slash the risk of a stroke or heart attack by a third, saving as many as 10,000 lives every year in the UK. Sceptics remain convinced that the benefits are exaggerated and the side-effects are far more troublesome than many doctors are prepared to admit. But who is right — and what can be done to maximise the benefits and minimise the risks?
A study in the British Medical Journal this week, involving more than two million patients, showed that if statins are used appropriately — in people who have already had a stroke or heart attack, or in those at higher risk (see right) of having one — the benefits far outweigh the risks.
While doctors tend to focus on serious side-effects, such as life-threatening muscle damage (1 person in 10,000 ), to measure risk/benefit ratios, patients will be more concerned by more common problems such as muscle aches, nightmares and stomach upsets. Serious side-effects are often unpredictable and difficult to protect against, but everyday problems can often be improved through careful prescribing. Most people are fine on statins, but in those who are not the first step should be to think of cutting the dosage. There is a preference in the UK for prescribing 40mg simvastatin as first-line therapy because it is cheap and effective, but cholesterol targets can often be reached using lower doses.
Ideal cholesterol levels vary, but for primary prevention — using statins in healthy people to ward off cardiovascular disease — the aim is to drop the total cholesterol level to less than 5mmol/litre and the bad cholesterol level to less than 3mmol/litre, or to aim for a 25 per cent reduction overall, whichever is greater.
If you are experiencing muscle aches on 40mg of simvastatin, try 20mg to see if that still gets your cholesterol to target. If the 40mg dose isn’t strong enough to reduce cholesterol, try a lower dose of a more powerful statin (atorvastatin or rosuvastatin) rather than increasing the dose of simvastatin. I find increases above 40mg have little extra benefit but cause far more side-effects.
http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/diet_and_fitness/article7135271.ece
August 31st, 2010 at 11:43 pm
HEART medication taken by millions has been found not to cause cancer, a major study has found.
Statins, which help to slash cholesterol levels, had previously been linked to an increased risk of developing tumours.
The news triggered alarm because more than four million Britons take the life-saving pills every day.
But the most robust study ever carried out into the drugs now says there was no scientific evidence to back the cancer claims.
The research, by statins expert Professor Rory Collins, of Oxford University, has dismissed any link to cancer. Along with a team from the University of Sydney in Australia, the researchers looked at data on 170,000 patients around the world who were given either statins or a dummy pill.
About 10,000 of these patients developed cancer and 3,500 died from the disease. However, the rate of cancer was the same among those taking statins as it was for those taking the placebo.
The research, presented at the European Society of Cardiology conference in Sweden, is seen as definitive by most experts. Professor Collins, British Heart Foundation professor of medicine and epidemiology at Oxford University, said: “These findings are extremely reassuring for patients.
“Statins are one of the most effective known therapies for the prevention of heart attacks and strokes and this study should reassure the millions of people who are taking them worldwide.”
Last night the UK’s leading heart charity said it was delighted with the findings and urged patients prescribed statins to keep taking their pills.
Judy O’Sullivan, senior cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation, said: “This is very reassuring for millions of people who take statins every day. Statins save lives, they don’t increase the risk of cancer.” Statins are credited with slashing the number of people dying from heart disease because they reduce cholesterol levels and stop the furring of arteries.
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/196800/Heart-medication-statins-do-not-cause-cancer-new-research-shows-