Statins not to blame for crippling muscle pain
Patients often stop taking statins due to the ‘ nocebo ’ effect or expectations of pain
One of the most documented reasons people stop taking cholesterollowering statins has been rejected by new research .
For more than 20 years , statins have successfully prevented and treated heart disease . But up to half of users stop taking them after a year or two for a variety of reasons , including side effects such as muscle pain .
A new study from the United Kingdom found that people who took statins had no more muscle symptoms , such as pain , weakness , cramps or stiffness , compared to those who did not take the drugs .
It assessed 200 patients who were randomly assigned to six twomonth treatment periods during which they either received statins or a placebo . At the end of the treatment periods , the researchers found no differences in muscle symptoms between those who took statins and those who took placebos .
They also found that the muscle symptoms had no differences in the impact they had on quality of life , such as mood , ability to walk , work , relationships , and sleep .
“ No overall effect of atorvastatin 20 mg on muscle symptoms compared with placebo was found in participants who had previously reported severe muscle symptoms when taking statins ,” wrote the authors from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine .
It ’ s unclear what causes the muscle pain that patients report , but the researchers suspect it could be connected to their age and underlying health conditions . There may also be a strong “ nocebo effect ”, which occurs when people expect to experience muscle pain and so experience it because of this misapprehension .
More research is needed to understand the root cause , but researchers say the evidence strongly suggests statins are not behind the aches and pains .
PTSD antidepressants linked to higher stroke risk in young adults
Major study finds that veterans taking certain drugs after seeing combat could suffer haemorrhagic stroke
C
ertain types of antidepressants could be better than others in treating post-traumatic stress disorder , or PTSD , as they carry a lower risk of stroke , says the largest ever investigation into posttraumatic stress and antidepressant use .
Young adults with PTSD are known to be more likely to have a major stroke by middle age . Even though stroke is often considered to be an older person ’ s disease , for adults younger than 45 , nearly half of all strokes are hemorrhagic , which occur when a weakened blood vessel ruptures and bleeds into the brain .
“ Unfortunately , stroke cases among young adults are on the rise ,” said Dr Allison Gaffey from the Yale School of Medicine and lead author of the research , which was published in the journal Stroke in December .
“ Traditional risk factors for stroke , such as hypertension or high blood pressure , may relate to some of the increase , but it is also important to examine if other under-appreciated factors could uniquely impact young adults ,” she told American Heart Association News .
The study looked at data from 1.1 million American veterans who served in the most recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan . Dr Gaffney and her team then zeroed in on the stroke risks among participants who had PTSD and those who took two types of medications commonly used to treat it , selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors .
Those taking the former were shown to carry a 45 percent greater risk of haemorrhagic stroke , leading the researchers to conclude that its use “ may be a potent risk factor for developing hemorrhagic stroke at young ages ”.
18 APRIL 2021 GlobalHealthAsiaPacific . com