MY APPROACH to Managing Statin-Associated Muscle Symptoms

Our clinic specializes in managing patients with statin-associated side effects and particularly muscle symptoms, or “SAMS.” The term SAMS is preferred over “statin myalgia” because it has been difficult to prove that statins cause mild muscle symptoms. I believe that statins do cause SAMS, although probably in fewer patients than we think. For example, in our double-blind, placebo-controlled STOMP study, 9.4% of 203 participants receiving 80mg of atorvastatin daily for 6 months developed reproducible muscle complaints as did 4.6% of 217 participants on placebo.

Source: Trends in Cardiovascular Medicine - October 5, 2016 Category: Cardiology Authors: Paul D. Thompson Source Type: research