Prevalence of Self-Reported Muscle Pain Among Statin Users From National Guard Hospital, Riyadh

Abstract

Background Statin, a hydroxymethylglutaryl-coenzyme A reductase inhibitor, is one of the commonly used lipid-lowering drugs that is used for lowering lipid levels in the body. Muscle pain is a commonly reported adverse effect of statins, yet little is known about the prevalence of muscle pain and statin use in the general population. Methods The cross-sectional study was conducted in National Guard Hospital, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. All study subjects were adult statin users aged 18 years old or above. A total of 313 patients were included in the study. The study was conducted based on a questionnaire distributed among patients according to inclusion and exclusion criteria. Results Among 313 statin users, patients underwent cardiac catheterization (39, 12.5%), stress test (62; 19.8%), percutaneous coronary intervention (three; 1.0%), and coronary artery bypass graft (six, 1.9%), while 203 patients didn't have any intervention (64.9%). Most of the study subjects were on atorvastatin (139; 44.4%). The prevalence of muscle pain was 73.5%; 95% CI = (68.4% - 78.1%). The most common sites of pain were lower limb pain (160; 51.1%), upper limb pain (145; 46.3%), and trunk pain (96; 30.7%). The common types of pain were joint pain (52; 16.6%), muscle weakness (51; 16.3%), muscle aches (43; 13.7%), and muscle cramps (41; 13.1%); and patients who reported that they stopped statin at some point because of muscle pain were 92 (29.4%). Conclusion Statins are important for managing and preventing ischemic heart diseases. Our study found that muscle pain is highly associated with statin use with a prevalence of 73.5%, which causes many patients to tend to stop taking their medication. Therefore, preventing the side effects by adjusting the proper dose or switching to another type of statin for high-risk patients will help them to continue using the drug. Also, it is important to rule out secondary causes of myopathy such as physical activity, fracture, thyroid dysfunction, or infection.

Keywords: cardiac intervention; ischemic heart disease; muscle pain; rhabdomyolysis; statin.

Figure 1. The distribution of the site of pain in statin users