Statins and Side Effects: Homing in on the Cause

Many people discontinue statin therapy because of concerns about side effects. Investigators designed the double-blind, placebo-controlled SAMSON (Self-Assessment Method for Statin Side-effects Or Nocebo) trial to investigate whether symptoms experienced while taking statins are due to statins or other causes. They enrolled 60 people who had discontinued statins (after trying a median of 2 types) and offered them participation in 12 randomly ordered 1-month treatment periods: 4 periods each of no medication, placebo, and statin.

The most common symptoms leading to discontinuation were muscle ache (60%), fatigue (15%), and cramps (10%). The mean symptom score (on a scale of 100) was 8 during the no-tablet months, 15 during the placebo months,…