Do Statins Really Cause Muscle Aches? - The New York Times

People taking cholesterol-lowering statin drugs often report muscle pain, but the pain may be the same when they take a look-alike placebo pill.

Many people who take the cholesterol-lowering statin drugs report that they cause muscle pain, but a randomized trial suggests that the pain is no different when they take a placebo pill.

Researchers assembled 200 people in England and Wales who had either stopped or planned to stop taking statins because of intolerable muscle pain.

The study found no differences between the statin and placebo periods in either muscle pain or reports on daily life activities and moods.

Liam Smeeth, a primary care physician and professor of clinical epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said that when people stop statins because of muscle pain “they’re missing out on the huge benefits — reducing the risk of heart attack or stroke by about a third