Statins and myalgia: fact or fiction?

Contemporary guidelines have lowered the threshold for statin use in primary prevention (7.5% risk of a cardiovascular event over 10 years in the USA,¹ 10% risk according to National Institute for Health and Care Excellence [NICE] guidelines in the UK).² Applying these thresholds, the majority of men over 50 years and more than half of women over 60 years will qualify for statin use. Countering the more widespread uptake of statin use in primary prevention advocated by these guidelines are claims, popularised by the lay press and uncritically published in some medical journals,^3,4 that statin use is accompanied by an unacceptable incidence of side effects that adversely compromise lifestyle and which challenge whether the small absolute benefits in some lower risk groups are worth the intolerance of the statin.

Pay to access this premium content £5

The BJC is introducing a small charge for some of its premium content. On purchase you will receive an email to access the article and have a downloadable PDF to keep. The PDF can be downloaded from a button on the sidebar. Please note the purchase of this article is for your personal use only.
By supporting us in this way, you are helping us to deliver high-quality services to healthcare professionals. We will continue to keep the majority of our content free of charge.