June 3, 2013
by DR. MARIANNA POCHELLI
Cholesterol-lowering drugs have been linked to musculoskeletal and joint injuries and adverse events especially in those pursuing physical activity, according to a report published by JAMA Internal Medicine, a JAMA Network publication.
Approximately 15% of the top prescribed medications in the world are generic statins. A study published in January 2012 in the Archives of Internal Medicine linked statins to 48 percent increased risk for type-2 diabetes.
The are have been no independent scientific studies which have ever documented through causation that lowering LDL cholesterol prevents disease of any kind and the obsessed culture of lowering cholesterol may actually be causing cancer.
Statins artificially lower cholesterol levels by inhibiting a critical enzyme HMG-CoA reductase, which plays a central role in the production of cholesterol in the liver.
The known consequences include inflammation and pathological breakdown of muscle, acute kidney failure, diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular disease, interference with sex hormones and death.
Almost 70% of people taking widely prescribed cholesterol-lowering medicines drugs do not get as much benefit as drug company statements suggest they should largely due to how studies are conducted in laboratory settings.
Dr. Dwight Lundell, MD has written extensively on what really causes heart disease and why cholesterol lowering statins are NOT the answer.
Statin-associated musculoskeletal adverse events (AEs) include a wide variety of clinical presentations, including muscle weakness, muscle cramps and tendinous (tendon) diseases, the authors write in the study background.
Ishak Mansi, M.D., of the VA North Texas Health Care System, Dallas, and colleagues utilized data from a military health care system to determine whether statins were associated with musculoskeletal conditions based on statin use during the 2005 fiscal year. Patients were divided into two groups: statin users for at least 90 days and nonusers. A total of 46,249 patients met the study criteria and of those, researchers propensity score-matched (a statistical approach that mathematically matches the characteristics of patients in two or more groups) 6,967 statin users with 6,967 nonusers.
"Musculoskeletal conditions, arthropathies, injuries and pain are more common among statin users than among similar nonusers. The full spectrum of statins' musculoskeletal adverse events may not be fully explored, and further studies are warranted, especially in physically active individuals," the authors notes.
Statin users had a higher odds ratio (OR) for musculoskeletal disease diagnosis group 1 (all musculoskeletal diseases: OR, 1.19), for musculoskeletal disease diagnosis group 1b (dislocation/strain/sprain: OR, 1.13) and for musculoskeletal diagnosis group 2 (musculoskeletal pain: OR, 1.09), but not for musculoskeletal disease diagnosis group 1a (osteoarthritis/arthropathy: OR,1.07), according to study results for the propensity score-matched pairs.
'To our knowledge, this is the first study, using propensity score matching, to show that statin use is associated with an increased likelihood of diagnoses of musculoskeletal conditions, arthropathies and injuries. In our primary analysis, we did not find a statistically significant association between statin use and arthropathy; however, this association was statistically significant in all other analyses," the authors conclude. "These findings are concerning because starting statin therapy at a young age for primary prevention of cardiovascular diseases has been widely advocated.".
Natural Approaches
Dr. Marianna Pochelli is a Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine specializing in the treatment of disease through superfoods and herbal strategies. She actively promotes detoxification, colon cleansing, and a vegetarian lifestyle using living foods as a platform to health.
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