Statins side effects are minimal, study argues

ConclusionThis meta-analysis pooled results from 29 studies and has shown a very small increased risk of newly diagnosed diabetes mellitus. This is the same as the decreased risk of any cause of death in people taking statins, compared to placebo, to prevent a heart attack or stroke.The researchers point out some limitations to the meta-analysis: Each study did not report on all of the side effects, meaning that for each category of side effect, the number of participants differed. The side effect categories were only included if at least 500 people had reported suffering from it. This means there may be numerous other side effects that were not covered by this research. New onset diabetes was only documented in 3 of the 29 trials, though the numbers were still reasonably large. Many trials do not state clearly how and how often adverse events were assessed. This is particularly important, as it is not clear from this type of analysis how often the side effects were experienced or the severity. Side effects not covered by this review include memory problems, blurred vision, ringing in the ears and skin problems.Anecdotally, muscle aches or weakness is one of the main reasons people stop taking statins. In this review, the category for muscle weakness was only looked at if the person also had a 10-fold increase in creatinine kinase level (indicating muscle damage). Muscle aches were separately recorded, as this is more common and not always experienced alongside mus...
Source: NHS News Feed - Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Heart/lungs Medication Source Type: news