Doctors are being urged to consider statin-induced myopathy in patients taking the drugs long-term presenting with muscle pain and weakness, following a rare case of statin-induced delayed rhabdomyolysis.

The 73-year-old US woman had been on simvastatin for more than nine years when she presented to the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix, Arizona, with new-onset leg weakness, falls and dark-coloured urine with decreased output.

She denied any recent viral syndrome, overexertion, trauma and other symptoms such as numbness, abdominal pain, chest pain, fevers and chills, general physician Dr Umesh Sharma writes in BMJ Case Reports.

The patient also claimed she’d had no facial asymmetry or speech difficulties, but she reported some difficulty swallowing.