Muscle pain reported on statin therapy may not be due to the drug MedTwitter
The most comprehensive analysis to date has suggested that in most cases, treatment with statins is unlikely to be the cause of reported muscle pain, according to a new study presented at the European Society of Cardiology Congress 2022 in Barcelona today and published inAround 7-8 million adults in the UK, and more than 200 million around the world, take statins to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease – and numbers have risen considerably as the risk criteria for CVD have widened.
"This suggests that not only do high-intensity statin treatments lead to larger risks of muscle symptoms in the first year than moderate-intensity statins, but that there may be a persisting low risk of such symptoms beyond this time," the team concluded. Joint lead author Professor Colin Baigent, director of the Medical Research Council Population Health Research Unit at the University of Oxford, said: "The idea that statins may cause frequent muscle pain has been a persistent belief among some patients and clinicians, however our study confirms that the statin is rarely the cause of muscle pain in those taking statins.
"For people on statins who do develop muscle symptoms, most of the time statins will not be the cause. We hope that these results will help doctors and patients to make informed decisions about whether to start or remain on statin therapy, bearing in mind its known significant benefits in reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease.