"Statins"

Dear Eddy12345

Thank you for sharing your experience regarding Statins via Patient Opinion. I appreciate your concern in this regard.

I write in response to the NHS 24 element of your post as I note you have previously made contact with us. Here at NHS 24 we welcome patient feedback and I would be keen to explore your particular call to our service to establish how this was managed. If you would be kind enough to contact me directly on 0141 337 4582 or by email at patientaffairs@nhs24.scot.nhs.uk then I would be pleased to hear directly from you.

I look forward to hearing from you.

With kind regards

Shona

Shona Lawrence

Patient Affairs Manager

0141 337 4582

Dear Eddy12345

I shared your story with my colleagues within NHS Inform who have provided the following link. This contains quality assured information with relevant associated links to further information sources. I do hope that you find this helpful.

https://www.nhsinform.scot/tests-and-treatments/medicines-and-medical-aids/types-of-medicine/statins

Our Health Information Advisors are also available to provide health information and they can be contacted on 0800 22 44 88.

With regards

Shona

Shona Lawrence

NHS 24 Patient Affairs Manager

Dear Eddy 12345

Thank you for taking the time to get in touch about your experience with Statins. We are sorry the reporting of this research in the media caused you concern and would advise any patient who has any questions about their medication to speak to their local pharmacist or doctor for advice.

The study you are referring to was carried out by researchers from a number of hospitals in England along with staff from universities in Oxford and Gothenburg. An analysis of the study on the NHS Choices website however highlights that this was a complex study which has a number of limitations and raises a number of unanswered questions. As a result, there may be other explanations for the differences in reporting of adverse effects, other than the "nocebo" effect which was widely reported in the national media.

NHS guidelines say doctors should consider offering statins to people who have had a prior heart attack or stroke, or to people with a 10% or higher risk of having a heart attack or stroke in the next 10 years. Statins need to be used with caution in people with a history of liver disease. There's also a very rare risk of a muscle toxicity causing weakness and breakdown of the muscles (rhabdomyolysis), which can cause serious complications. For this reason people are asked to be aware of muscle symptoms although the chances of muscle aches or pains being caused directly by statins is very small.

You can read further background information on this study, on the NHS Choices website, www.nhs.uk/news/2017/05May/Pages/Statin-side-effects-have-been-overstated-says-study.aspx

Kindest regards

Pauline Marland

Person Centred Patient Experience Coordinator

NHS Forth Valley