Stick with your statins – despite the side effects

They slash death risk, say doctors

PATIeNTS who stop taking statins because of the side effects are risking their lives, warns a study.

Around six million Britons take the drugs every day to reduce cholesterol and lower their risk of heart disease.

Statins have been proven to slash the chance of repeat strokes or heart attacks and are believed to save up to 7,000 lives a year in the UK.

But up to three- quarters of patients are said to abandon them within two years, often due to side effects such as muscle pain, stomach problems and sleep disturbance.

Now research shows that those who give up are significantly increasing their chances of an early death. Staying on the drug lowers the risk of heart attack, stroke and death by up to 20 per cent, scientists found. For a major new Harvard University study, researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, USA, analysed the health records of 28,266 patients who reported side effects to their doctor from 2000 to 2011.

A year later 30 per cent had stopped taking the drug. But those who continued had a 10 to 20 per cent lower rate of heart attack, stroke and death from any cause.

Twelve in 100 patients who stuck with statins suffered a ‘ cardiac incident’ or death within four years of reporting side effects, compared to nearly 14 in 100 who stopped taking the drugs. Some 7,600 patients switched to a different statin after suffering one or more side effects. Of these, 27 per cent suffered side effects once again, but 84 per cent of those kept going, says the study, published today in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine.

Doctors who champion stat-

‘Giving up risks an early death’

ins say many side effects are triggered by other conditions or are just the normal aches and pains of ageing.

Research suggests only five in 10,000 users suffer muscular pain resulting from their treatment and not another cause. Co-author Dr Alex Turchin said the Harvard results showed that statins were still effective at cutting risk, even for patients who suffered side effects.

He added: ‘Many patients do not reattempt statin therapy and remain without treatment for prolonged periods after an adverse reaction.

‘Whether a patient should continue taking statins after experiencing adverse symptoms is an important decision. We hope that our findings will help patients and their clinicians as they choose the best approach.

‘ Statins represent an extremely effective therapy for managing risk of cardiovascular disease and have a much lower cost than new classes of drugs.’ Scientists have bickered for years over whether it is worthwhile prescribing statins to most middle-aged people as a preventative drug or whether this is‘ over medical is at ion ’.

Conflicting messages about the drugs are believed to discourage some patients from taking them.

Jeremy Pearson of the British Heart Foundation, said: ‘There is no doubt about it, statins save lives. They are the most commonly prescribed medication in the UK for a reason — with or without side effects, they’re proven to lower a person’s risk of having a heart attack or stroke.’