More Docs Wonder If Statins Are Worth the Risks

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By Brenda Goodman, MA
WebMD Health News
Reviewed by Arefa Cassoobhoy, MD, MPH
Aug. 18, 2014 -- Kailash Chand, a doctor in the U.K., says he once brushed aside patients who complained of muscle pains, weakness, fatigue, and memory problems after he put them on cholesterol-lowering medications called statins.
Then a routine blood test showed he had high levels of some blood fats. And his own doctor put him on a statin.*
"After 6 months, I started noticing that I was having a lack of energy," says Chand, deputy chairman of the British Medical Association. "My regular exercise was curtailed. I was feeling tired and exhausted."
Soon after that, he developed pain in his back so severe that it sent him to a specialist. Blood tests, X-rays, and MRI scans showed no obvious problems.
Then he happened to notice in the package insert for his medication that muscle pain might be a side effect of taking it.
Within a few weeks of stopping the drug, he felt much better. His pain was reduced and some nagging sleep problems also improved.
Chand's experience led him to question whether statins -- one of the most commonly prescribed medications in the U.S. -- are effective enough for some patients to justify their risks.*
His shift is at the heart of a simmering debate in medicine over statins. And it comes at a time when statins -- one of the most commonly prescribed medications in this country, taken by an estimated 1 in 4 middle-aged adults -- may become even more widely used. New cholesterol guidelines, introduced last November, could push that number to as many as 1 in 2 adults over age 40, according to a recent analysis in the New England Journal of Medicine.
“The prevailing dogma has been that statins are almost harmless and that they’re wonderful drugs,â€￾ says Tom Perry, MD, a pharmacologist and internist in Vancouver, Canada.
Perry is part of a team of doctors at the University of British Columbia that looks at the evidence for and against drugs. They publish their findings in a free bi-monthly bulletin called Therapeutics Letter. The latest issue urged doctors to be more mindful of side effects when writing prescriptions for statins.
[h=3]Debate Over Statins Heating Up[/h]Their review found statins decrease energy and fitness, and increase fatigue and sleep problems. They also found that statins may increase the risk of muscle aches and pains, kidney and liver problems, bleeding in the brain, and type 2 diabetes.
“If people understood how relatively modest the benefits of statins are, they might be much more conservative about taking them, especially if they’re experiencing an adverse effect, and we don’t think the salesmanship has included an adequate emphasis on the importance of not harming people,â€￾ Perry says.
Most experts, including Chand, are supporters of statins when they are given to people to help prevent a second heart attack or stroke. In those cases, he believes that the benefits of the drug usually outweigh their risks.