Do Statins Cause Muscle Pain? Study Says Unlikely


- Researchers say statins will not be the reason for muscle aches in about 90 p.c of the instances the place people who find themselves taking the medicines expertise this ache.
- Their conclusions are according to earlier research which have reported on the “nocebo impact” concerned with muscle ache and statins.
- Nevertheless, some consultants say medical professionals nonetheless must hearken to their sufferers who take statins and report muscle aches.
Statins are medicine which are broadly prescribed and recognized to be efficient as a therapy for prime ldl cholesterol.
Nevertheless, for years, there was some debate over whether or not statin remedy could cause muscle ache and/or muscle weak point.
A
experiencing shouldn’t be coming from the statin.
“The concept statins could trigger frequent muscle ache has been a persistent perception amongst some sufferers and clinicians. Nevertheless, our research confirms that the statin is never the reason for muscle ache in these taking statins,” Colin Baigent, the director of the Medical Analysis Council Inhabitants Well being analysis unit on the College of Oxford in England and joint lead writer of the research, mentioned in a press assertion.
“These findings counsel that if a affected person on statins stories muscle ache, then it ought to first be assumed that the signs will not be as a result of statin and are probably resulting from different causes. Statin remedy ought to proceed till different potential causes have been explored,” Baigent mentioned.
The researchers checked out information from about 155,000 folks from 23 trials of statin remedy.
Every trial had greater than 1,000 individuals and a follow-up time of greater than two years.
Dr. Lori B. Daniels, a heart specialist and director of the cardiovascular intensive care unit at UC San Diego Well being, instructed Healthline, “There was a lot on social media, within the information, and in
on a regular basis discourse about statins’ potential to trigger muscle aches, that many individuals consider this to be true.”
An
A 2021 research reached related conclusions.
Dr. Elizabeth Klodas, the founding editor-in-chief of the affected person schooling effort of the American Faculty of Cardiology often called cardiosmart.org, mentioned she thinks statin research like this one “are insulting to sufferers.”
Klodas, who created her own line of wholesome meals for coronary heart sufferers as a substitute for statins and different medicine, says that physicians ought to respect what their sufferers are saying, even when they consider it includes the nocebo impact.
“The affected person tells you that they ache, and but they carry on taking the drug. I believe no matter whether or not or not is a placebo, physicians ought to respect what their sufferers are experiencing,” she instructed Healthline.
Klodas shouldn’t be in opposition to statins. She prescribes them incessantly when she believes they’re the most suitable choice for the affected person.
However the issue Klodas has with this research, she mentioned, is that it consists of solely those that had been enrolled within the long-term perspective.
“All of these trials had durations by which sufferers had been thrown out in the event that they complained in regards to the drug,” she mentioned. “Individuals who had points early on had been excluded, so it is best to count on there to be low ranges of uncomfortable side effects.”