According to researchers in Canada and the U.S., more than 1 million Americans are suffering painful side effects from just one best-selling pharmaceutical drug. And their doctors are making no effort to see if they are vulnerable to these consequences. Are you one of these unlucky patients?
The researchers at the Lawson Health Research Institute in London, Ontario, along with scientists at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn., have found that one in ten people who take statins suffer muscle pain and weakness. The medications, designed to reduce blood cholesterol, are dished out like candy by physicians. The statin drugs include Crestor (rosuvastatin), Lipitor (atorvastatin) and Zocor (simvastatin).
“Currently, we do not fully understand the drug exposure necessary for optimal statin therapy, making it difficult to predict an individual’s dose requirement while minimizing the risk of side effects,” says researcher Richard Kim. In his study, Kim set out to quantify people’s blood levels of statins and analyze the role genes play in statin uptake and absorption.
“We found that commonly occurring genetic variations in the genes that help to clear the drugs from the body, widely referred to as drug transporters, are key predictors of patients who will likely have high statin blood levels,” says Kim. “We think those patients with high levels of statins in their blood are at a much greater risk for statin-associated muscle injury.”
Currently, doctors can not readily identify at risk patients using the available clinical tests. However, Kim proposes using the pharmacogenetic tests presently available, in addition to the clinical variables he and his research team have outlined in their research paper, to help better identify these patients and prevent serious side effects. “This seems to be very relevant, especially for the many elderly patients who take these medications,” says Kim.
It is estimated that half of all men between the ages of 65 and 74 are taking statins and 39 percent of women older than age 75 are on these drugs.
http://easyhealthoptions.com/alternative-medicine/the-drug-thats-russian-roulette-for-your-health/
