For instance, atorvastatin and rosuvastatin provided cardiovascular benefits at a lower 10-year risk than simvastatin and pravastatin, according to the study. However, in primary prevention, the margin of benefit of these drugs can be small. For patients on standard statin doses, symptomatic adverse events like muscle pain and weakness may occur in 50-100 patients per 10,000 treated over five years. Clinical Topics: Diabetes and Cardiometabolic Disease, Dyslipidemia, Prevention, Vascular Medicine, Homozygous Familial Hypercholesterolemia, Hypertriglyceridemia, Lipid Metabolism, Nonstatins, Novel Agents, Statins, Diet, Smoking, Keywords: Dyslipidemias, Hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA Reductase Inhibitors, Cholesterol, LDL, Gemfibrozil, Mevalonic Acid, Midazolam, Macrolides, Lovastatin, Risk Factors, Myalgia, Pandemics, Cyclosporine, Muscle Cramp, Secondary Prevention, Diet, Mediterranean, Immunosuppressive Agents, Influenza, Human, Protease Inhibitors, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Nocebo Effect, Autoimmunity, Intracranial Aneurysm, Brain Ischemia, Cause of Death, Hypercholesterolemia, Hydroxymethylglutaryl CoA Reductases, Muscular Diseases, Myocardial Infarction, Myositis, Primary Prevention, Diabetes Mellitus, Risk Reduction Behavior, Mutation, Smoking, Cell Death, Anti-Bacterial Agents, Creatine Kinase, Receptors, LDL, Triglycerides. In general, taking statins is not "super risky," Puhan said. Dangers of Statin Drugs. For patients with prior heart attacks or strokes, statins lead to overwhelming cardiovascular benefit. Statins clearly help to lower the risk for future ASCVD events in patients at risk. "The most important message for individuals who consider statins is to carefully look at the cardiovascular risk of an individual -- a physician can determine that -- and then have a conversation of whether the benefits exceed the harms," he said. The use of statins is increasing in the United States. In lower risk primary prevention patients, statins may not lead to a net benefit," he said. Let’s look at the top 5 ways that statins can wreak havoc on your health. The study had some limitations, including that it involved data on only the four most commonly prescribed statins and that the balance of risks and benefits was measured only for the US, the UK and Switzerland. The risk of very serious side effects is extremely low, and calculated in a few cases per million people taking statins. The shocking statin side effects your doctor is hiding from you. The finding raises the question: Are statins overprescribed for the prevention of cardiovascular disease? The recommendations also address many of the concerns raised when the guidelines were last updated five years ago. An ~80 mg/dL (2 mmol/L) reduction over five years with low-cost statin therapy appears to prevent a major vascular event in about 500 out of 10,000 patients who have not yet had a vascular event (primary prevention) and 1,000 out of 10,000 patients who already have ASCVD (secondary prevention). The most common complaints with statin use are muscle-related, with reported rates ranging widely between 0.3 to 33%. "The main finding is that the risk threshold is substantially higher than what has been determined by experts before and not necessarily by research," said lead study author Dr. Milo Puhan, a professor of epidemiology and public health at the. For the vast majority, that won't happen, and it generally goes away when we stop the statin," Khera said. Side Effects of Statin Drugs. Finding the Balance Between Benefits and Harms When Using Statins for Primary Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease, Annals of Internal Medicine (2018… 1. The occurrence of new-onset diabetes went up when patients had one or more pre-existing risk factors for diabetes. Statins are the most widely prescribed, cholesterol-lowering drugs in the world. Additionally, whether a side effect outweighs the benefit of a statin depends on an individual patient's needs and preferences. The three side effects they most commonly ask about are muscle aches, changes in cognitive function and liver function. The researchers found that statins were likely to provide benefits at a substantially higher health risk. Statins: What happens to patients who stop taking them after side effects? Puhan and his colleagues are planning to publish a followup study exploring risks and benefits within several other countries. Guidelines offer different answers. Feb 05 2018. "So the risk threshold increases with age, which basically means that you need to have a higher cardiovascular risk in order to get the net benefit from statins.". Since 1900, ASCVD has been the leading cause of death every year in the US (except for 1918, the year of the influenza pandemic). "Those guidelines feature a detailed discussion between clinician and patient before ever prescribing a statin. While lipid-lowering with statins decreases risk for ischemic stroke (when blood flow is obstructed to tissues), risk for a hemorrhagic stroke (a brain aneurysm or blood vessel leak) is associated with lower LDL-C according to some observational studies. Dangers des statines Les statines présentent des effets secondaires qui ne sont pas négligeables. Sign up here to get The Results Are In with Dr. Sanjay Gupta every Tuesday from the CNN Health team. Statins have also been shown to be environmental triggers for anti-HMG-CoA reductase necrotizing autoimmune myositis, a rare disorder characterized by severe muscle cell death caused by an autoimmune response against the enzyme that statins target. People with LDL levels of 100 or lower "tend to have lower rates of heart disease and stroke, supporting a 'lower is better' philosophy," according to a, A level of above 160 is considered "very high," according to a, The main takeaway from the new study and the new cholesterol guidelines is that "the threshold for starting statins in primary prevention is a complex one and must be individualized to the patient," said Dr. Michael Blaha, an associate professor and director of clinical research at the. However, this non-dose dependent possible side effect should not be a reason to avoid prescribing a statin--for every 54 newly diagnosed case of diabetes in the JUPITER trial, 134 vascular events or deaths were prevented. Cholesterol. Many physicians recommend that patients have conversations about the risks and benefits of statins with their doctors.