Predicting muscle issues with statin use
A new model may help predict the risk of muscle disorders in patients receiving treatment with statins.
In a study published in The Lancet Digital Health, researchers used the electronic health records of more than 5.5 million male participants aged 50 years and older and female participants aged 60 years and older to develop and validate a model designed to determine which patients receiving statins may have a higher likelihood of experiencing hospitalization or mortality related to serious muscle disorders at one, five and 10 years. They collected patient data from the Clinical Practice Research Datalink over a 21-year period from January 1998 to December 2018.
The model included risk factors such as age, sex, frailty index, previous muscle disorders, comorbidities, vitamin deficiencies, statin prescriptions and concomitant drugs with myotoxic potential. The researchers found that the model was accurate and had good calibration in predicting serious muscle disorder risk among patients receiving statins at 10 years. Although the risk of serious muscle disorders was higher among those who used statins compared with those who did not use statins, the overall 10-year risk was found to be low across most of the participants. They indicated that using the new risk model in combination with existing risk prediction tools could help inform the shared decision-making process among patients who are eligible for statin therapy.
Read more: The Lancet Digital Health
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