The mostly mild harms associated with statins used for primary prevention are outweighed by the benefits in averting major cardiovascular events, say the UK authors of a systematic review.

The University of Oxford-led team reviewed 62 randomised controlled trials with more than 120,000 patients to evaluate the evidence on “inconsistently defined” adverse events linked to statins, such as muscle disorders and diabetes. 

During four years’ follow-up among patients with no history of CVD events (mean age 61, 40% women), the researchers found statins were associated with a mere 6% higher risk of self-reported muscle symptoms — mostly myalgia — but were not linked to clinically confirmed muscle disorders, such as rhabdomyolysis.

And in contrast to meta-analyses of secondary prevention studies, the review found no association between statins and diabetes.