Atorvastatin is the most common cause of clinically significant liver injury among statins with a reported incidence of 1/17 000 users.
Of all statins, simvastatin and atorvastatin are responsible for most reported incidents of liver damage, but this is likely just due to the fact that they are prescribed the most.
Simvastatin, lovastatin, fluvastatin, and atorvastatin are metabolized by cytochrome P-450, while pravastatin, rosuvastatin, and pitavastatin remain almost unaffected by any hepatic metabolic processes.
A low-dose statin like atorvastatin (Lipitor®) is safe for most patients, including those with mild liver enzyme abnormalities. Many people have fatty liver disease due to obesity.
While statins are highly effective and safe for most people, they have been linked to muscle pain, digestive problems and mental fuzziness in some people who take them and may rarely cause liver damage.
Currently available evidence suggests that hepatocellular pattern liver injury is a rare complication of statin administration. The most commonly reported symptoms are jaundice, generalized weakness, and abdominal pain, but some patients are completely asymptomatic when abnormal laboratory values appear.
Specifically, lipophilic statins (those that dissolve more readily in lipids such as oils and fats) may be more effective for preventing liver cancer than hydrophilic statins (those that dissolve more readily in water).
Post hoc data from three large prospective randomized clinical trials (n>11, 000) suggest that specific statins (mainly atorvastatin) ameliorate NAFLD/NASH and reduce CVD events twice as much as in those with normal liver function.
Crestor may result in changes in liver function and in some cases, may cause liver failure. Liver problems are most common during a patient's first three months taking Crestor. It is recommended that doctors perform liver enzyme testing before patients begin a Crestor regimen.
Nexletol: New Drug Lowers Cholesterol Without Side Effects of Statins.
An alternative medication, bempedoic acid, significantly lowers cholesterol and the risk of heart attacks, as well as reducing the need for a procedure that unblocks clogged arteries, according to a large clinical trial presented Saturday at the annual meeting of the American College of Cardiology.
While generally noted in the first 3 months of statin therapy initiation, elevated aminotransferases have been observed to return to baseline in approximately 70% of patients with continued statin therapy, and in other cases, return to baseline with medication cessation.
Joseph A. Hill, M.D., Ph. D. The controversy in the United Kingdom started in 2013 when the British Medical Journal (BMJ) claimed statins were being overprescribed to people with low risk of heart disease, and that the drugs' side effects were worse than previously thought.
Relative potency, therefore, appears to be a fundamental predictor of muscle-related AE risk, with fluvastatin, the least potent statin, an apparent exception (risk 74% vs rosuvastatin).
What about drug therapy? Unfortunately, there are no FDA-approved medications for fatty liver disease. So far, the two best drug options affirmed by the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases for biopsy-proven NASH are vitamin E (an antioxidant) and pioglitazone (used to treat diabetes).
Moreover, statins should be considered in patients with NAFLD, as statins were effective in reducing the risk of NASH and fibrosis. Since statins are safe and inexpensive, it is striking that currently 40–50% of patients with NAFLD do not receive treatment while indicated.
A: It's very unlikely that fatty liver is caused by rosuvastatin (Crestor) or any of the other statin drugs. In fact, some studies suggest that low to moderate doses of a statin may actual help heal fatty liver. The medical term for fatty liver is non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).
Atorvastatin or fluvastatin are usually recommended because there is no need to adjust the dose according to the glomerular filtration rate [28]. In patients without diagnosed atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, it is indicated a moderate dose of statin, such as atorvastatin 20 mg daily [28].
Both Lipitor and Crestor are excellent medications to help improve high cholesterol and to decrease your risk of heart attacks and strokes. In studies, Crestor was more effective at lowering total cholesterol levels and raising HDL levels (Jones, 2003).
MONDAY, March 6, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Not everyone can tolerate statins to reduce their high cholesterol, but now a new study finds the medication bempedoic acid (Nexletol) reduced the combined rate of bad cardiovascular events by 13%. “We're very pleased with the results,” said study chair Dr.
Ezetimibe is a tablet that lowers cholesterol. It may be prescribed if statins cannot be taken, or alongside a statin for extra cholesterol-lowering. It's a 'cholesterol absorption inhibitor' that limits the absorption of cholesterol in the small intestine.
Statins are the most common medicine for high cholesterol.
The overall risk of DILI with statin use is estimated to be approximately 1 in 100,000 with the estimated risk of ALF being approximately 1 in 1,000,000.