Healthy Skepticism Library item: 797

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Publication type: news

Ivanhoe NEWSWIRE.
Statin Risks
News 14 Carolina 2005 Feb 2

Full text:

Researchers estimate as many as 150 million people worldwide take medications known as statins.

While these drugs effectively lower cholesterol, some say they are over-prescribed and can pose serious side effects. Here’s more on the risks of statins.

Nothing means more to Jane Brunzie than spending time with her 9-year-old granddaughter, Rachel. And that feeling is mutual.

“She always has special things going,” Rachel said, “So I always ask her, ‘Is there anything special going on?’”

But those special times for these two almost came to an end.

Jane said, “My daughter told me she didn’t think she could safely leave my granddaughter with me anymore, because she would come home from work, and I didn’t know where she was.”

Kristen Lemme, Jane’s daughter, said,: “That’s when everything went ding, ding, ding in my head. I had to sit her down and say, ‘I know we’ve had some patches here, but I can’t have this anymore.’” Thinking her mother had Alzheimer’s, Kristen scouted out care facilities.

But Jane wondered if it could be a side effect of the drug Lipitor (atorvastatin). She kept talking to her doctor about it, but he didn’t think it was important. So she searched the Internet for someone who did and found Beatrice Golomb, M.D., Ph.D.

Dr. Golomb, an internist at University of California, San Diego, says many of the patients in her study who took statins had memory problems. “The most common reports we hear are from people initially having difficulty remembering names, including names of loved ones, and difficulty remembering where they were going or why.”

Statins work by blocking a chemical in the liver that makes cholesterol. They’re effective at doing that, but not without risks. Dr. Golomb says patients on statins are at an increased risk for developing muscle weakness, nerve damage, and even cancer.

She’s worried doctors aren’t warning patients about these risks.

“Physicians have heard so many of the wonderful things about statins and so little about the potential downsides that the physicians are persuaded that the statins can’t possibly be related,” Dr. Golomb explaine. “Then the individuals stay on the drug, and the problem progresses and becomes very severe and debilitating.”

So, who should take statins? According to Dr. Golomb, research shows only white, middle-aged men who have or are at risk for heart disease. “There’s not really evidence that the benefits exceed the harms for women, for elderly, or for men who aren’t at high risk.”

But most doctors still recommend statins because those side effects can usually be reversed by lowering the dose.

Jane stopped taking her statin. Within days, she was back to her normal self. Her cholesterol is still high — about 300 — but she said it’s a tradeoff that’s worth it.

“At my age, I would rather risk having a heart attack and die with a mind that was functioning. That’s my choice.”

A risky choice for Jane, but one her whole family supports.

Dr. Golomb’s statin study is the largest of its kind to look at the side effects of the drugs. In January 2005, an FDA panel opposed a proposition to sell statins over-the-counter, citing numerous side effects.

Members of the panel also said the drugs may pose serious birth defects when taken during the first trimester of pregnancy.