From Shots - Health News From NPR
Side Effects Prompt Patients To Stop Cholesterol Drugs
by NANCY SHUTE
April 03, 2013 5:03 PM
With one-quarter of adults over age 45 taking cholesterol-lowering statin drugs, it figures that more than a few people would have trouble sticking with the program.
More than a few, actually.
A big new study of statin use in the real world found that 17 percent of patients taking the pills reported side effects, including muscle pain, nausea, and problems with their liver or nervous system.
That's a lot higher than the 5 to 10 percent reported in the randomized controlled trials that provided evidence for regulatory approval of the medicines.
This study, which was published in Annals of Internal Medicine, looked at more than 100,000 people who'd been prescribed statins from 2000 through 2008 at two academic medical centers.
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