Vital Signs: Risks: Statin Drugs Cause Fatigue in Some People

Many observational reports have suggested that statin drugs cause fatigue in some people, and now a randomized trial has found further evidence for the effect.

The experiment, published online June 11 in Archives of Internal Medicine, included 1,016 healthy men and women over age 20 with levels of LDL, or ?bad? cholesterol, ranging from 115 to 190 milligrams per deciliter of blood (around 100 milligrams per deciliter is generally considered optimal). A third of them took 20 milligrams of simvastatin, a third 40 milligrams of pravastatin, and a third took a placebo daily for six months. They rated themselves for ?energy? and ?fatigue with exertion? on 5-point and 10-point scales.

The researchers found that LDL levels declined significantly in the groups on statins. But as a group, those on statins were significantly more likely than those on placebo to report that their overall energy level and their energy on exertion had declined. The effect was more apparent in women than in men.

The lead author, Dr. Beatrice Golomb, an associate professor of medicine at the University of California, San Diego, said that the side effect was not rare. ?Patients need to be aware of this, in case they notice fatigue when on statins, so that they can have a discussion with their physicians,? she said. ?A minimum step would be a trial of discontinuation to see if the statins are a contributing factor.?

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