One in five patients taking a statin reports a side effect, mainly muscle aches, according to the study. About one-third of those patients stop taking statins completely, leaving them 13% more likely to die or have a heart attack or stroke over the next four years than those who continued to take statins. Experts say 56 million people in the U.S. should be taking statins, such as atorvastatin (brand name Lipitor) and rosuvastatin (brand name Crestor). They repeated the analysis with patients knowingly taking statins in a second leg of the trial and found little difference in the rate of side effects. About 29% of the patients stopped taking statins.

Source: Wall Street Journal July 31, 2017 17:37 UTC