Jumat, 10 September 2010

Statin exposure causes birth abnormalities

This post includes a synopsis of a paper published in the New England Journal of Medicine 350, 1579-82 2004

Study title and authors:
Central Nervous System and Limb Anomalies in Case Reports of First-Trimester Statin Exposure
Robin J. Edison, M.D., M.P.H. Maximilian Muenke, M.D.
National Institutes of Health Bethesda, MD 20892-1852
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This paper can be accessed at: http://www.nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.1056/NEJM200404083501524

The paper reviewed 52 cases of first-trimester statin exposure reported to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The review found:
(a) Among these cases, there were 20 reports of malformation, including 5 severe defects of the central nervous system (2 of which were holoprosencephaly) and 5 unilateral limb deficiencies.
(b) One patient had both of these malformations. The two simvastatin-exposed cases of limb deficiency were complex lower-limb anomalies including both long-bone shortening and aplasia or hypoplasia of the foot structures. The infant in one of these cases and a lovastatin-exposed infant also had rare forms of the VACTERL association (i.e., three or more of the following findings: vertebral, anal, cardiac, tracheal, esophageal, renal, and limb defects).
(c) It is thought that only a small proportion of statin adverse events are reported to the FDA.
(d) There would be no expected cases of most of the malformations listed in the paper; yet three rare anomalies are each observed twice.

Dr Edison concludes that these findings support the need for controlled studies evaluating the potential birth defects effects of statin drugs.
 
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