UNITED KINGDOM — Research published in the journal The Lancet Digital Health indicates that serious statin side effects on muscles are extremely rare. British researchers also developed a new tool to help doctors predict patients' risk of statin side effects, including muscle disorders.

The study utilized medical record data from nearly 6 million adults in the United Kingdom. It found approximately 0.04% of individuals had a 10-year risk of statin-related serious muscle disorders exceeding 10%. By comparison, an American Heart Association report previously estimated the rate of myopathy, a broad term for muscle conditions, at less than 1% and the rate of rhabdomyolysis at less than 0.1%. Rhabdomyolysis is a condition where muscle tissue breaks down rapidly, releasing toxins into the blood, and can be fatal.

Preventative cardiologist Nishant Shah observed a general population concern about these drugs due to rare side effects. Professor of medicine Bart Duell noted that even if the risk were tenfold higher, it would still represent a minimal threat.

In clinical trials, subjects taking a statin were slightly more likely to report mild muscle pain than those receiving a placebo. However, in most of these cases, the pain was determined to have a cause other than the drug.

Nishant Shah stated, "There is a huge worry in the general population about these drugs based on rare side effects." He added, "There is a lot of social media messaging out there about it, there's medical misinformation on non-peer-reviewed websites out there, there are just word of mouth concerns, anecdotal stories of maybe family members having issues."

Duell explained, "Even if you increase that tenfold, that is still a very tiny risk." He added that the risk of muscular side effects "really isn't a reason to not use statins." Duell also noted, "Statin side effects get talked about as if it is a done deal, but a couple important points are that almost all of the side effects are dose-related."

Why It Matters

Heart disease is considered the leading cause of death globally. Statins, such as atorvastatin, rosuvastatin, and simvastatin, can lower LDL cholesterol levels by up to 60%, which reduces the risk of heart attack or stroke. However, less than half of the approximately 50 million people in the United States who could benefit from statins currently use them. Up to one-third of individuals in the U.S. do not fill their statin prescriptions, and about 40% of those prescribed a statin stop taking it within three months.

The development of a tool to predict individual patient risk aims to provide clinicians with better information to guide patient discussions and treatment plans.