Statins ARE safe for children – and could benefit tens of thousands

STATINS are safe for children as young as seven, research suggests.

Up to 56,000 children in the UK with a genetic condition could benefit from the drugs, experts say.

Prescribed in their millions to the middleaged and elderly to lower cholesterol, the drugs were thought to have side effects that would pose a risk to youngsters.

Now a University College London trial, which tracked 300 children as young as seven on statins for a year, has found there is no impact on their growth, or damage to the liver and muscles. It is thought statins could help the 56,000 sufferers of familial hypercholesterolaemia, which causes youngsters to have blocked arteries through childhood and puts them at risk of a heart attack as early as their 20s.

Researchers also found children with the condition were half as likely to be obese, probably as they had been given dietary advice to cut cholesterol. Study leader Professor Steve Humphries said: ‘These findings are incredibly reassuring. Now, we can offer parents of children with the condition further comfort that the treatment is safe to take from a young age.’