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Statins Can Cause Heart Damage and Life-Threatening Muscle Disease
A study last year by Dr. Peter Langsjoen, a cardiologist at East Texas Medical Center, found that two-thirds of patients showed signs of heart muscle weakening (diastolic dysfunction) after only six months of statin therapy. The study is far from conclusive, but the FDA is reviewing Langsjoen's request for a government-funded study of long-term statin use. He also petitioned the FDA last May to order a warning on all statin pill bottles. Langsjoen argues: "Doctors are prescribing statins with reckless abandon. They are really, really tricky drugs."
In a clinical advisory, the American College of Cardiology, the American Heart Association, and the NIH warn that a common complaint in patients taking statins is nonspecific muscle aches or joint pains. This can progress to severe symptoms of myositis (muscle inflammation) associated with muscle breakdown or rhabdomyolysis, kidney failure, and death. Although the official warning states the myositis is associated with enzyme changes, some of these patients with weakness and biopsy findings of myopathy have normal serum creatine kinase levels. These findings resolve after discontinuation of statins and recur with resumption of therapy. 31 patients died of rhabdomyolysis in August 2001 when Bayer voluntarily recalled Cerivastatin, marketed as Baycol©. See http://www.annals.org/issues/v137n7/abs/200210010-00009.html. This article highlights the need for further study on the actions of statins on muscle metabolism and structure. Grundy, Phililips, and colleagues also report similar findings and low-grade myopathy with normal enzyme level in a recent issue of Annals of Internal Medicine.
For a fascinating story about the history and marketing of statins see the interesting recent article in Fortune magazine, The $10Billion Pill by John Simons, http://www.fortune.com/fortune/print/0,15935,403881,00.html
Martin F. Sturman, MD, FACP
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