Indeed, a recent review has shown that statins lower systolic blood pressure (SBP) up to 8.0 mmHg in patients with dyslipidemia and normal BP; 6.0 mmHg in patients without dyslipidemia and with hypertension; and 13.7 mmHg in patients with dyslipidemia and hypertension [2].
Conclusions. Statin use might be associated with improvement in arrhythmia and heart rate variability in healthy persons with 48‐hour sleep deprivation. This finding should be confirmed by larger scale trials.
“We found that statins lower both systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and that the effect extends to patients with pre-hypertension, those with normal blood pressure and persons not on blood-pressure lowering medications,” said Golomb.
Side effects can vary between different statins, but common side effects include: headache. dizziness.
The most common side effects of statins include nausea, vomiting, and aches and pains in the muscles and joints. You may also have constipation, gas, or diarrhea. Most people are able to take statins without experiencing side effects, and the most common side effects of statins are mild.
The American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association developed some prescription guidelines. Typically, if a person's LDL cholesterol (bad cholesterol) is 190 or higher, they're often advised to start a statin.
If you're taking a statin medication to lower your cholesterol, you will need to keep taking your prescription, or your cholesterol will likely go back up. Stopping your statin can put you at risk of having heart disease and other preventable health problems like stroke and heart attack from high cholesterol.
According to a research review people who take simvastatin (Zocor) or pravastatin (Pravachol) may experience fewer side effects.
If you have high cholesterol and are at high risk for cardiovascular disease, you should consider statins. That's because the benefits of statins greatly outweigh the risks. Statins reduce the risk of serious cardiovascular events like heart attack or stroke by up to 25%, and death by 10%.
Conclusion: Statins lower blood pressure by cholesterol-independent mechanisms, and the reduction is larger in individuals with higher blood pressure and those with low HDL-C. Statins may be beneficial in preventing hypertension and may contribute to better blood pressure control in hypertensive patients.
Researchers say prescribing statins along with blood pressure medications improves the survival odds for people with hypertension. The number of deaths from stroke and heart disease could significantly decrease if people are given statins in combination with medications that lower blood pressure.
You usually have to continue taking statins for life because if you stop taking them, your cholesterol will return to a high level. If you forget to take your dose, do not take an extra one to make up for it.
One alarming study of 28,000 patients found that 3 in 10 stopped taking their statins because they presumed the aches and pains they were experiencing were due to the drug. The result: 8.5% suffered a heart attack or stroke within just four years, compared to 7.6% who continued taking the drugs13.
Answer From Edward R. Laskowski, M.D. A normal resting heart rate for adults ranges from 60 to 100 beats per minute. Generally, a lower heart rate at rest implies more efficient heart function and better cardiovascular fitness.
Conclusions. Short-term treatment with atorvastatin increases heart rate variability, decreases QT interval variability, and shortens QTc interval duration in patients with advanced chronic heart failure.
A low-dose statin like atorvastatin (Lipitor®) is safe for most patients, including those with mild liver enzyme abnormalities.
For the purposes of this definition, the lowest daily starting doses of statins are proposed as rosuvastatin 5 mg, atorvastatin 10 mg, simvastatin 20 mg, lovastatin 20 mg, pravastatin 40 mg, fluvastatin 40 mg, and pitavastatin 2 mg.
Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol.
The most important thing your doctor will keep in mind when thinking about statin treatment is your long-term risk of a heart attack or stroke. If your risk is very low, you probably won't need a statin, unless your LDL is above 190 mg/dL (4.92 mmol/L).
Lowering your cholesterol levels through diet, exercise, or weight loss could eliminate your need to take statins or other cholesterol medications. If you can do that, that's great!
Abstract. Previous studies have shown that the commonly used statin lipid lowering drugs can delay the progression of atherosclerotic plaque. Atorvastatin can stabilize atherosclerotic plaque, but it can not reverse atheromatous plaque.
As evident from periodic liver enzyme estimations, we can say that alternate-day statin therapy is at least as safe as daily treatment regime. While there was one instance of myalgia, on daily atorvastatin treatment, alternate-day dosage of the same was well tolerated.
After having their cholesterol tested, seniors should be given a number between 190 and 260. Healthy seniors should keep their total cholesterol below 200 and their LDL cholesterol around 100. If your elderly loved one's LDL cholesterol level is above 160, he or she must start making sweeping lifestyle changes.
Fifty patients met study criteria, and overall most (37/50; 74%) tolerated the once-a-week regimen (Table 1). Among those who experienced myalgias from previous statins, 71% (25/35) tolerated once-a-week rosuvastatin.