Overview
- The Cholesterol Treatment Trialists’ Collaboration pooled 19 placebo-controlled trials and four intensity trials involving over 150,000 participants and tens of millions of symptom reports in double-blind studies.
- No excess risk was found for most conditions listed on leaflets, including memory loss, depression, sleep disturbance, erectile dysfunction, weight gain, nausea, fatigue and headaches.
- Small, specific risks were confirmed: about a 1% increase in muscle symptoms in the first year, a slight rise in blood sugar that may hasten diabetes in high‑risk people, roughly 0.1% abnormal liver tests, and tiny increases in oedema and urine changes, with no increase in serious liver disease.
- Authors say labels should be revised to reflect trial evidence; the work was led by Oxford Population Health and the University of Sydney and funded by major health bodies including the British Heart Foundation, UKRI/MRC and Australia’s NHMRC.
- Clinicians and charities cite underuse driven by misinformation, noting around 7–8 million people take statins in the UK versus an estimated 15 million who could benefit, and national regulators have been contacted to review labeling.