Statins Injure Eye Muscles

The bad statin Class of drugs aka HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors, that are used to lower cholesterol levels by inhibiting the HMG-CoA reductase enzyme that plays a central role in liver function and cholesterol production. news just keeps on coming.  Research conducted by the Casey Eye Institute¹ looked into the FDA’s adverse drug reporting (ADR) system for reports on double vision, drooping eyelids, and loss of range of motion of the eyes – all problems that involve loss of function in small muscles that control the eyes.

At commonly prescribed doses it took 8 months for the statins to induce the eye-related muscle damage.  The researchers, based on the FDA available ADR data, said the risk of the problem was 0.1 percent, or 1 in a 1000.  If a person combined a statin Class of drugs aka HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors, that are used to lower cholesterol levels by inhibiting the HMG-CoA reductase enzyme that plays a central role in liver function and cholesterol production. with a highly toxic triglyceride-lowering drug such as Lopid, which is known to boost statin Class of drugs aka HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors, that are used to lower cholesterol levels by inhibiting the HMG-CoA reductase enzyme that plays a central role in liver function and cholesterol production. toxicity to muscle, then the risk jumped to 0.5 to 2.5 percent, or 5 to 25 in a 1000. 

The problem with this estimate of frequency is that the data is coming from the FDA’s adverse drug reporting database.  Researchers estimate that less than 1% of the actual number of cases of any given drug problem are actually reported in the ADR database – which is especially the case when individuals don’t realize the slow onset of a symptom months after starting a drug.