Warning Regarding the use of Certain Statins

for the full article, go to        https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/23247096211014050

Statins represent the front line mainstay of cholesterol lowering treatment for heart disease. The aim is to prevent cholesterol being deposited in the heart arteries, thus narrowing them and increasing the risk of blockage and heart attack. There is no doubt that the use of statins since the late 1980s has significantly reduced the risk of potentially fatal cardio vascular incidents.

However, like all medications, there are underlying risk factors. Statins have a recorded history of causing possible life threatening liver injuries but it must be stressed that, in general, the risk factors are extremely low. So much so that the Food and Drug Administration in the USA no longer recommends routine monitoring of Liver function tests (LFT) with the use of Statins, as trials have demonstrated that there is insufficient benefit regarding the prevention of significant liver injury.

Like all rules and recommendation, there are exceptions and the use of statins does need to be monitored with specific products in mind. In this case, we are talking about Atorvastatin. Atorvastatin is probably one of the most efficient statins in preventing heart disease but, it does have the disadvantage of being one of the biggest culprits of causing significant liver disease and damage in a very small minority of instances. Investigation have conclusively shown that Atorvastatin therapy is the most common cause of Drug Induced Liver Injury among the various statins.

Is it therefore not incumbent upon the medical profession to advise Atorvastatin users to undergo Liver Function Tests (a simple blood test) once a year to ensure that solving one problem does not cause another.

(From a personal experience, I have been on Atorvastatin for some 4 years but it was only last year that I started feeling mildly unwell with vague and widespread stomach pains, sleep disturbances, lack of energy and, more recently, very abnormal Liver function tests and blood screen results - for the more technical amongst you, results are displayed below. Anyway, having researched the matter (as in the article above) I stopped the Atorvastatin myself and within 2 weeks was feeling immensely better in all respects. I don't know what the Liver specialist will say when I see him - more news here when he has seen me.)