Statins: The Most Misunderstood Lifesaving Drug

Many high blood cholesterol patients believe that lifestyle modifications like diet changes, an active lifestyle and quitting smoking would spare them the daily pills. On the contrary, a local study by SingHealth Polyclinics has found medication adherence to be most effective for blood cholesterol control (up to 85%) compared to exercise and diet (10% to 20%).

Unfortunately, bad press surrounding the commonly prescribed statins has led patients to unfounded fears. Here, Prof Tan Huay Cheem, Chairman of Singapore Heart Foundation, debunks some common myths you may have heard about statins:

DOCTORS PRESCRIBE STATINS AS A CATCH-ALL

NOT TRUE. Statins, such as simvastatin, lovastatin, atorvastatin and rosuvastatin, are widely used as they satisfy two crucial functions in disease management:

• Prevent the onset of disease before it begins
• Reduce the severity or impact of disease by halting its progress and preventing recurrences

Patients usually start on a course only if they satisfy any of these criteria:

• Atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease – has pre-existing blockages in the heart, brain or arteries
• Diabetes mellitus – especially for those with diabetes for more than 10 years
• High LDL cholesterol level – Higher than l90mg/dl (4.9mmol/L)Having multiple risk factors of cardiovascular disease (CVD)

STATINS CAUSE DIABETES

NOT TRUE. Statins do not induce diabetes for those with normal blood sugar levels. People who experience elevated blood sugar levels from statins are those already pre-diabetic or have higher than normal blood sugar.

It is important to note that the benefits of statins in reducing risk of cardiac events for the pre-diabetics or diabetics greatly outweigh the slight increase in their blood sugar.

STATINS DO NOT REALLY PREVENT BLOOD VESSELS DISEASE

NOT TRUE. In the high-risk populations studied, those who took statins had 20% to 40% fewer heart attacks, strokes and deaths than those who did not over two to five years.

In all international guidelines, statin therapy is also the standard of care for patients with peripheral artery disease (blockages that occur in the lower limb arteries).