Cholesterol drug side effects need watching: study (UK)

People using cholesterol-lowering statins have a higher risks of liver dysfunction, kidney failure, muscle weakness and cataracts and such side effects of the drug should be closely tracked, doctors said. In a study covering more than 2 million people in Britain, researchers from Nottingham University found that adverse side effects of statins, which are prescribed to people with high levels cholesterol to cut the risk of heart disease, were generally worst in the first year of treatment. The findings, published in the British Medical Journal, are unlikely to affect the use of best-selling medicines like Pfizer's Lipitor and AstraZeneca's Crestor, but the study's authors said patients taking statins should be "proactively monitored" for side effects. "Our study is likely to be useful for policy and planning purposes," said Julia Hippisley-Cox and Carol Coupland, the two professors who led the study. They said it may also be useful "for informing guidelines on the type and dose of statins". - Canwest