However, he said the safety of statins has been tested so thoroughly that many cardiologists take the drugs themselves. Lipitor is the top-selling pharmaceutical in the world. The drugs interfere with a protein that makes cholesterol, and they also help to stabilize plaques formed by cholesterol inside arteries. There are two recognized side effects. About one in 100 patients on statins develops problems with liver function.
Doctors monitor for that and stop use of the drugs when it happens.
Also, some patients have muscle damage indicated by leakage of a particular muscle enzyme into the blood. Phillips said his placebo-comparison study, with 40 patients so far, has shown that muscles can be damaged and weakened without leaking the enzyme. It may take six to eight years for the problem to build up, he said, and studies of statin safety have not lasted that long. Dr. Jerrold Glassman, Mercy's medical director of cardiology and a colleague of Phillips, said many patients on statins may have side effects that doctors don't take the time to evaluate seriously. We tend to discount unfairly many of the complaints elderly people have.