Statin therapy is likely to be the cause of muscle pain or weakness in only one in 15 patients who report such symptoms and mostly disappears after the first year of therapy, a meta-analysis shows.

An international research collaboration has concluded that most muscle symptoms linked to statins are not related to the drugs, suggesting patients should continue therapy until other potential causes have been ruled out.

“Most (more than 90%) of all reports of muscle symptoms by participants allocated statin therapy were not due to the statin,” the researchers wrote.

The team conducted their individual patient data meta-analysis to counter “widespread disinformation and confusion among patients about statin safety”.