The raison d'etre of this website is to provide you with hard scientific information which may help you make informed decisions in your quest for health (so far I have blogged concise summaries of over 1,500 scientific studies and have had three books published).

My research is mainly focused on the effects of cholesterol, saturated fat and statin drugs on health. If you know anyone who is worried about their cholesterol levels and heart disease, or has been told to take statin drugs you could send them a link to this website, and to my statin or cholesterol or heart disease books.

David Evans

Independent Health Researcher

Saturday 30 August 2014

After six months of taking statins, over 20% of people develop muscle pain

This study was published in Arquivos Brasileiros de Cardiologia 2014 Jul;103(1):33-40
 
Study title and authors:
Evaluation of sexual dimorphism in the efficacy and safety of simvastatin/atorvastatin therapy in a southern brazilian cohort.
Smiderle L, Lima LO, Hutz MH, Sand CR, Van der Sand LC, Ferreira ME, Pires RC, Almeida S, Fiegenbaum M.
Universidade Federal de Ciências da Saúde de Porto Alegre, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
 
This study can be accessed at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25120083

This study evaluated the effects of simvastatin/atorvastatin on men and women. The six month study included 495 patients, aged 25-82 years, (331 women and 164 men), who received simvastatin/atorvastatin.

When high levels of creatine phosphokinase are detected in the blood, it is considered to be an abnormal result. High levels of the enzyme may occur due to the following conditions:
  • heart attack
  • pericarditis after a heart attack
  • polymyositis or dermamyositis
  • heart muscle inflammation
  • myopathy (a disease of the muscles)
  • rhabdomyolysis (a breakdown of muscle tissues)
  • muscular dystrophies
  • convulsions
  • stroke
  • brain injury
  • delirium tremens
  • hypothyroidism (a decrease in the activity of the thyroid gland) or hyperthyroidism (an increase in activity of the thyroid gland)
  • death of lung tissue
After six months the study found:
(a) 20.3% of the patients developed muscle pain.
(b) 11.1% of the patients had increased creatine phosphokinase levels and/or abnormal liver function.