The debate has taken on added urgency because of the risks associated with statins, which often are supposed to be taken daily for the rest of one’s life. The drugs have long been known to cause muscle pain in some people and, more rarely, liver and kidney damage, as well as cognitive side effects like memory loss and confusion.
In 2010, Johns Hopkins researchers discovered that statins could, in rare instances, make the body produce antibodies against its own proteins, engendering a painful and debilitating muscle disease that actually gets worse when patients stop taking the drugs. But the most common side effect is diabetes.
In 2012, researchers published a study showing that postmenopausal women who took part in the Women’s Health Initiative were much more likely to develop diabetes if they took statins, and diabetes itself increases the risk of heart disease considerably.
Despite the concerns, women are heavy users of statins, especially in midlife — when the gap in heart disease risk between men and women happens to be greatest. Some 16 percent of women ages 45 to 64 take statins, compared with 18 percent of men.
Over all, 26.9 percent of men 45 and over take statins, compared with 23.6 percent of women, though significantly more elderly men than elderly women use statins.
