A major review of the safety of the most commonly prescribed group of cholesterol-lowering drugs has concluded they are safe, well tolerated and effective in preventing cardiovascular disease.
The analysis, published today by the medical journal, The Lancet, which reviewed the principal studies into the safety of statins carried out between 1985 and 2006, found that statins "seem to be a remarkably safe group of drugs when used at their usual doses".
Statins reduce the amount of cholesterol in the blood by inhibiting an enzyme essential to its manufacture.
High levels of cholesterol cause atherosclerosis, in which fatty deposits build up in the arteries and disrupt the flow of blood. Statins also appear to stabilise these fatty plaques, reducing the risk of clots breaking off, causing heart attack or stroke.
Statins are prescribed for people with pre-existing cardiovascular disease and also in those considered at high risk of developing a heart attack or stroke.
Dr Jane Armitage, of the clinical trial service unit at Oxford University, looked at the safety of the following statins which are available in the Republic: simvastatin, pravastatin, fluvastatin, atorvastatin and rosuvastatin.
Her review concluded that the adverse effects of some statins on muscle were rare at standard doses.
Myopathy - the development of muscle pain or weakness accompanied by an increase in an enzyme called creatine kinase - occurs in fewer than one in 10,000 patients taking a statin. Rhabdomyolysis, in which muscle breaks down leading to a heightened risk of kidney failure, also occurred rarely in the randomised trials studied by Dr Armitage.
The risk of muscle side effects increased in patients taking higher statin doses.
Adverse side effects on the liver, from increased levels of liver enzymes associated with statin use, were rare.
The review concluded that statins were safe in older people and when taken with moderate amounts of alcohol.
For people taking the anti-coagulant warfarin, along with a statin, the warfarin dose may need to be altered because of an interaction between the drugs.