Cholesterol-lowering statins are more dangerous than government agencies have claimed, the prestigious British Medical Journal (BMJ) has concluded.
It has revised two papers that had claimed that 20 per cent of patients could suffer side effects, such as muscle weakness, increased risk of diabetes and liver inflammation, but has refused to retract them following an independent review.
This suggests that the essence of the original articles, written by Dr John Abramson of Harvard Medical School and cardiologist Dr Aseem Malhotra, was correct, and that the drugs pose a risk to health. In its review, the independent panel concluded that the error “did not compromise the principal arguments.”
The BMJ was attacked for causing alarm, and putting people off from taking the drugs. Researchers such as Prof Rory Collins from Oxford University maintains the drugs have almost no side effects and can greatly benefit people at risk of heart disease.
The UK has recently widened the eligibility requirements for starting statin treatment, and virtually every healthy male over the age of 60, and female older than 65, could start taking the drug as a just-in-case remedy. The change means that four in 10 adults in Great Britain could now start a statin prescription.
(BMJ, http://www.bmj.com/about-bmj/independent-statins-review-panel)
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