The public controversy over statins after a leading medical journal ran articles questioning their use will have prompted an estimated 200,000 people in the UK to stop taking the pills in a six-month period, according to researchers.
The authors of a study funded by the British Heart Foundation say there could be 2,000 extra heart attacks or strokes over the following 10 years as a consequence, but say it is impossible to be certain.
The new study is published in the British Medical Journal. The BMJ also ran the two articles that started the controversy in October 2013, suggesting that the benefits of statins in preventing heart attacks and strokes may be outweighed by the possibility of side-effects in people who are not at high risk.
The authors of the study, from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, say there was no difference in the number of new patients starting statins. The extra patients who quit the pills – over and above those who stop taking the drugs anyway each month – tended to be older and to have been on statins for longer. Within six months of the publication of the controversial articles, the dropout rate had returned to its previous levels.
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