Static over statins has patients confused

LONDON: Patients who take statins have been plunged deeper into confusion by the UK’s two leading medical journals going to war over the safety of the drug.

The row was triggered by a major review in The Lancet last week that concluded the pills were safe and their benefits far outweighed any harm.

The review was the biggest yet of their use, but now rival journal The BMJ has cast doubt on the assertions by claiming “adverse” side effects are far more common than the study implied.

The BMJ has urged chief medical officer Sally Davies to launch an independent inquiry.

Health campaigners said most patients would be left “utterly confused”.

Statins are the National Health Service’s most commonly prescribed medication, with about six million patients taking them to prevent heart attacks and strokes.

Professor Rory Collins, lead author of the Lancet review, which was undertaken by a team of Oxford researchers, concluded the pills were so beneficial that six million more adults should be taking them.

The Lancet’s editor, Richard Horton, also launched a strong attack on research published in The BMJ that warned of possible side effects.

He said two studies that appeared in the journal in 2013 had led to 200 000 patients stopping their statins, potentially harming their health.

The BMJ defended this research and questioned The Lancet’s claims that the pills were safe and effective.

Writing for the journal, Dr Richard Lehman, a retired general practitioner and Oxford University academic, said muscle pain and fatigue were “prevalent” and “recurrent” in many patients on statins.

Professor Harlan Krumholz, a cardiologist at Yale University in the US, said many scientists had “persistent concerns” about the use of statins.

Tam Fry, of the National Obesity Forum, said: “Joe Public doesn’t have the vaguest idea whom to believe.” – Daily Mail