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<\/p>\nA landmark review has concluded that the cholesterol-lowering medications do not actually cause the vast majority of side effects attributed to statins.<\/p>\n
The systematic review published in The Lancet and meta-analysis found no strong evidence linking statins to 62 of the 66 adverse effects currently listed on product labels.<\/p>\n
Beyond the established risks of muscle pain and diabetes, researchers identified just four side-effects supported by evidence: liver test changes, minor liver abnormalities, urine changes and tissue swelling. Even these risks are very small, according to the findings.<\/p>\n
The drugs have been taken by hundreds of millions of people globally over three decades and are proven to prevent heart attacks, strokes and cardiovascular deaths. <\/p>\n
Scientists found no strong evidence linking statins to 62 of the 66 adverse effects currently listed on product labels<\/p>\n
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Yet millions have avoided them due to longstanding safety concerns.<\/p>\n
The research represents the most thorough examination of statin side-effect evidence ever conducted.<\/p>\n
Scientists analysed data from 19 randomised controlled trials encompassing 124,000 participants, with follow-up periods averaging four-and-a-half years.<\/p>\n
Commonly cited adverse effects such as memory problems, depression, sleep disturbances, and nerve damage causing tingling sensations in hands and feet, were among those found to lack supporting evidence.<\/p>\n
The analysis demonstrated that the likelihood of experiencing most listed side-effects was minimal, while the protective benefits substantially outweighed any potential harms.<\/p>\n
Researchers concluded that product labelling should be revised to accurately reflect the scientific evidence, enabling both patients and clinicians to make better-informed decisions about statin therapy.<\/p>\n
Christina Reith, an associate professor at Oxford University and the study’s lead author, said: “What we were able to show reliably was that statins did not make these commonly experienced events occur more often.”<\/p>\n
She explained that the proportion of people experiencing memory loss or sleep problems annually was comparable between those taking statins and those who were not.<\/p>\n
She said: “This means that we now have really good evidence that although these things may well happen to people while they take statins, statins are not the cause of these problems.”<\/p>\n
Prof Sir Rory Collins, emeritus professor of medicine and epidemiology at Oxford and a senior author, said: “Now that we know that statins do not cause the majority of side-effects listed in package leaflets, statin information requires rapid revision to help patients and doctors make better-informed health decisions.”<\/p>\n
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Statins have been taken by hundreds of millions of people globally over three decades to manage high cholesterol<\/p>\n
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Prof Bryan Williams, chief scientific and medical officer at the British Heart Foundation, which part-funded the research, said: “Statins are life-saving drugs, which have been proven to protect against heart attacks and strokes. <\/p>\n
“This evidence is a much-needed counter to the misinformation around statins and should help prevent unnecessary deaths from cardiovascular disease.”<\/p>\n
Prof Victoria Tzortziou Brown, chair of the Royal College of GPs, said: “Those considering taking statins should be reassured by this comprehensive study, which shows that while statins, like any medication, have potential side-effects, the risk for most people is low.”<\/p>\n
While statins offer genuine benefits for many patients, they may not suit everyone, and prescribing decisions should always involve discussions between GPs and patients about individual risks and benefits.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A landmark review has concluded that the cholesterol-lowering medications do not actually cause the vast majority of side…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":465486,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[64,63,137,1625,490],"class_list":["post-465485","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-medication","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-health","tag-lifestyle","tag-medication"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465485","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=465485"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465485\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/465486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=465485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=465485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=465485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}