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In randomized, blinded clinical trials, statin therapy is associated only rarely with myopathy (muscle pain or weakness plus substantially elevated creatine kinase levels; generally <0.2% of patients per year of treatment). But, in observational studies, as many as one fifth of statin users report muscle pain or weakness.
To better understand this discrepancy, researchers (funded by a manufacturer of atorvastatin) reanalyzed data from the lipid-lowering arm of the Anglo-Scandinavian Cardiac Outcomes Trial (ASCOT-LLA; NEJM JW Gen Med May 15 2003 and Lancet 2003; 361:1149), in which more than 10,000 adults with hypertension were randomized to daily atorvastatin (10 mg) or placebo. The lipid arm of the trial was stopped after a mean 3.3 years o…