Open AccessStatin intolerance: Now a solved problem
Author(s) -
Praveen Sikka,
Seema Kapoor,
Bindra Vk,
Manvi Sharma,
Pravesh Vishwakarma,
Saxena Kk
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
journal of postgraduate medicine/journal of postgraduate medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.405
H-Index - 52
eISSN - 0972-2823
pISSN - 0022-3859
DOI - 10.4103/0022-3859.90085
Subject(s) - medicine , statin , dyslipidemia , discontinuation , coenzyme q10 , red yeast rice , drug , dosing , ezetimibe , myalgia , pharmacology , intensive care medicine , disease , alternative medicine , pathology
Statins are the most effective and widely used drugs for treating dyslipidemia, a major risk factor for coronary heart disease. These are one of the safest hypolipidemic drugs but many patients are bound to discontinue statins due to their side effects. Hepatotoxicity, myotoxicity and peripheral neuropathy are important out of them. Discontinuation of statins leads to dylipidemia and its grave consequences. Hence, there should be enough strategies for statin intolerant patients, so that they can be saved from these consequences. These side effects can be avoided by the awareness of certain factors viz. potential drug interactions and dose adjustment according to patho-physiology of the patient. Baseline investigations for liver function and muscle toxicity should be done before initiating statin therapy. Here, we are discussing various options for statin intolerant hyperlipidemic patients such as lower and intermittent dosing of statins, alternate hypolipidemic drugs, red yeast rice, supplementation with coenzyme Q10 and vitamin D. A number of hypolipidemic drugs are in trial phases and hold promise for statin intolerant patients.