Statins cause flu-like symptoms

This paper was published in Medical Science Monitor 2002 May;8(5):CR384-8

Study title and author:
Flu-like response on statins.

Sinzinger H.
Wilhelm Auerswald Atherosclerosis Research Group (ASF), Vienna, Austria. helmut.sinzinger@univie.ac.at

This paper can be accessed at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12011782

This paper describes five patients who developed flu-like symptoms after starting statin therapy.

(i) The patients reported a flu-like response on statins with very severe symptoms of exhaustion, weakness, aching muscles and joints and raised body temperature.
(ii) These symptoms started within three weeks of starting statin therapy.
(iii) The symptoms appeared even in the lowest available dose of statins.
(iv) Only three of the patients had elevated creatine kinase levels.
(v) Four of the patients had elevated 8-epi-prostaglandin-F(2 alpha) levels, (an indication of muscle damage).
(vi) The patients discontinued the statins and within five weeks their symptoms completely disappeared.

Sinzinger concluded: "This set of data is absolutely new as it shows for the first time that flu-like symptoms may be due to statin use."