Both of those figures -- 50% of men and 38% of women aged 60 and older being on cholesterol-lowering drugs -- seem awfully high. Alexander Turchin, MD, director of informatics research, associate professor, Harvard Medical School; endocrinologist, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston. Â. Rory Collins, FMed Sci, FRCP, professor of medicine and epidemiology, Oxford University, Oxford, U.K. Pencina, M. The New England Journal of Medicine, April 10, 2014.Â. Ironically I had an angiogram because of the arrhythmia and my arteries are clean. Anytime we see half of an entire population (in this case, men aged 60+) being prescribed a drug, it might be time to ask if we're overdoing it. Among women, the figure was 38%. Professional organizations provide widely varying recommendations on statin use, and researchers clash on their costs and benefits. “The prevailing dogma has been that statins are almost harmless and that they’re wonderful drugs,” says Tom Perry, MD, a pharmacologist and internist in Vancouver, Canada. I was feeling tired and exhausted.". Dr. Rory Collins, a professor of medicine and epidemiology at Oxford University in the U.K. who has overseen the analysis of study data on statins, says the drugs are extremely safe. But for some patients, even that is unlikely to be enough. They began looking for ways to help people reduce their blood cholesterol and statins became the treatment of choice. With seven million Britons taking statins, that could mean up to 1.5 million are being affected. Helping Smokers Quit: The Science Behind Tobacco Harm Reduction, Foods Are Not Cigarettes: Why Tobacco Lawsuits Are Not a Model for Obesity Lawsuits, The Prevention and Treatment of Osteoporosis: A Review. ", Kailash Chand, MD, deputy chair, British Medical Association, Manchester, U.K.Â, John Mandrola, MD, electrophysiologist, Louisville Cardiology Group, Louisville, KY.Â. The most common side effects noted in the study were muscle and joint pains and spasms. There are two kinds of cholesterol, HDL (the "good" kind) and LDL (the "bad" kind). "If they ruin quality of life, it's almost certainly not worth it. They have certain risk factors -- age, smoking, higher cholesterol, or diabetes, for example -- that raise their chance of having a heart attack or stroke over the next 10 years. In the nocebo effect -- the opposite of the placebo effect -- a person suffers side effects from a fake medicine. Statins remain our safest and most effective drug for primary and secondary prevention of coronary artery disease. Despite the controversy, many doctors embraced the idea that cholesterol was the path to heart disease. Smart Grocery Shopping When You Have Diabetes, Surprising Things You Didn't Know About Dogs and Cats, Coronavirus in Context: Interviews With Experts. After doing his own review of the research, Mandrola concluded that for lower-risk patients, statins raise the risk of diabetes in about the same number of people who might avoid a first heart attack or stroke on the drugs. Are "Low Dose" Health Effects of Chemicals Real? Not only was statin use completely unnecessary but I was perfectly healthy before they put me on statins. “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,” Perry says. Under the current guidelines, statins are recommended for only about 15 percent of adults. High cholesterol? Muscle pain is the most frequently reported statin side-effect. WebMD does not provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. 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Aug. 18, 2014 -- Kailash Chand, a doctor in the U.K., says he once brushed aside patients who complained of muscle pains, weakness, fatigue, … Soon after that, he developed pain in his back so severe that it sent him to a specialist. If you are taking a statin, tell your doctor immediately if you become pregnant or are thinking about having a baby. High blood pressure? Are Doctors Overprescribing Statins? Should You Worry About Artificial Flavors Or Colors? That was enough to convince him to take his patient, who was suffering from muscle and joint pains, off the medication. In those cases, he believes that the benefits of the drug usually outweigh their risks. Because high cholesterol, specifically LDL, is associated with cardiovascular disease, it is desirable for people who have a high level of blood cholesterol to lower it. The Next Plague and How Science Will Stop It. But there is something of a public war going on over the use of statins. MMWR 67 (27): 771. Those were followed by nausea, diarrhea, and constipation. So if statins are saving thousands or millions of lives, perhaps it's worth it. DOI: 10.15585/mmwr.mm6727a6. He is also an Analyst at Geopolitical Futures and a featured speaker for The Insight Bureau. When you take care of patients day in and day out, you hear that a lot,” Mandrola says. The latest issue urged doctors to be more mindful of side effects when writing prescriptions for statins. 95% of Baby Food Tainted with Toxic Metals? And they don’t lower a person’s overall risk of an early death. However, they can have side effects and might not be right for everyone. The controversy has raged for nearly three decades, ever since lovastatin (Mevacor) was approved in 1987. It included 82 cardiologists and more than 11,000 patients. There are few modern medications that have stirred such heated debate as statins. It's possible that we aren't. Recently, the CDC assessed the percentage of Americans taking statins. Some patients have been “fired” by their doctors if they won’t take such drugs. 9/11 Truther Mark Ruffalo Testifies to Congress on Science, Nothing Grimes Said About Eyeballs or Depression Makes Any Sense, Jeff Bezos' Plan to Colonize Space is Based on Sheer Nonsense, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is Helping Spread Flu and Cervical Cancer, Anti-Monsanto Lawyer and USRTK, Carey Gillam Collaborator Possibly Headed to Prison for Extortion, Journalist Peter Fairley Cites Anti-Vaxx Website, Spreads Misinformation on Flu, COVID-19, DeSmogBlog: Climate Website Is Headed by Anti-Vaxxer Brendan DeMelle, DeSmogBlog: Climate Activist Site Smears Freeman Dyson and Other Scientists. I finally quit statins against the advice of the doctors.