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75% of patients on cholesterol medicine 'report muscle pain'
January 04, 2013
Statins appear to cause muscle pain in patients, Danish research suggests
Danish research has revealed that up to 75 per cent of patients receiving statins for elevated cholesterol levels experience muscle pain.
The study, published in the Journal of American College of Cardiology, suggested this side-effect may deter patients from taking the medicine or pursuing exercise.
Statins work by inhibiting the liver's ability to produce cholesterol and researchers found that patients examined had low levels of the protein Q10, which may be the cause of the muscle pain.
Professor Flemming Dela from the Center for Healthy Aging at the University of Copenhagen expanded on the possible reasons for this discomfort.
He said: "We have now shown that statin treatment affects the energy production in muscles. We are working on the assumption that this can be the direct cause of muscle weakness and pain in the patients."
According to the research, 40 percent of statin-treated patients in Denmark receive no other medicine for cholesterol, suggesting they have no other risk factors impacting on their heart health.
Professor Dela claimed the effects of statins was marginal for these patients, with previous figures indicating just one death in every 200 patients taking statins daily for five years would be prevented.
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