December 3, 2018 – Statin Use

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Anchor lead: New cholesterol guidelines bring statin use into focus, Elizabeth Tracey reports

Have you been told you need a statin in the wake of new cholesterol guidelines released at the recent American Heart Association meeting? Roger Blumenthal, one of the guidelines authors, and a cardiologist at Johns Hopkins, says for most, these medicines work well.

Blumenthal: Eighty out of a hundred people don’t have any problem when you put them on statin therapy. Ten out of a hundred typically will stop it within the first three months because they either have some muscle aches or an upset stomach. Serious side effects are extremely rare, but of those 10 out of a hundred people who stop it within the first three months five out of a hundred do just fine when you either dose it less frequently or you switch to a different statin. Sometimes people  do better on a lower dose of a statin  every other day and then slowly, gradually increase the frequency until they get up to an every day of the week dosing pattern.   :33

Blumenthal says risk reduction with statin use is real and well worth the effort. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.