Statin Side Effects May be 'All in Your Head,' Study Suggests
upstart writes in with an IRC submission for Runaway1956:
Statin side effects may be 'all in your head,' study suggests:
Most of the side effects commonly blamed on cholesterol-lowering statins may actually be the product of patients' imaginations, new British research claims.
The finding follows a study of 60 patients who had been taking statins but stopped because of reported muscle aches, fatigue or joint pain.
But after giving the patients an unmarked eight-month supply of statins and dummy pills -- four bottles of each -- the investigators found that 90% of the symptoms reported when taking the real drug endured, even when patients were taking a dummy, or placebo, pill.
"Cardiovascular disease is the biggest killer worldwide, and statins are one of the best drugs we have at reducing the risk of heart attack and stroke," explained study author James Howard. "One problem with statins, however, is that patients tolerate them very poorly. Some studies have found up to 50% of people stop statins within two years of starting them."
Howard said that the researchers "noticed that in old trials of statins -- when half the patients took statins and half the patients took placebo -- the side effects were almost identical for both groups. This made no sense if statin side effects were so common."
The new investigation revealed that "statin tablets do cause side effects, but most of these symptoms seem to be caused by the act of taking tablets, not the actual statin within them," he said.
Journal Reference:
Howard, James P., et. al, N-of-1 Trial of a Statin, Placebo, or No Treatment to Assess Side Effects [open], New England Journal of Medicine (DOI: 10.1056/NEJMc2031173)
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