Increased use of statins, which cost just 4p per pill, could save 18 million people from heart disease and stroke, and have been shown to be effective in the fight against prostate cancer.
Eight million Britons are currently taking statins, but 18 million are eligible, including all men over 60 and all women over 65.
The side effect is often described as muscle pain, but a new study suggests it may be age-related, reports BirminghamLive.
The study, presented at the European Society of Cardiology Congress in Barcelona and published in The Lancet, gave 155,000 people a statin or a placebo.
27.1% of people taking statins reported muscle pain, but 26.6% of people taking placebo described the same effect.
Paint:
(Getty Images / iStockphoto)Darrell Francis, professor of cardiology at the National Heart and Lung Institute, explains: “Statins are very effective in preventing heart disease, but many people avoid them for fear of side effects. If people suspect that statins are making them sick, they stop taking them.
“As a result, they have a heart attack or stroke and die. They died for no good reason and because they received false information. Statins help lower cholesterol levels and have been found to slow tumor growth in prostate cancer.”
According to other studies, statins have long helped prostate cancer sufferers.
A 12-patient clinical study conducted at the Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Center in Glasgow found that statins can slow cancer growth when used in combination with other hormonal drugs.
Professor Hing Leung, who led the study, said the study was "the first of its kind to show that statins have a real effect on prostate cancer growth in patients."
Paint:
(getty image)He continued, "We think that statins may interfere with prostate cancer androgen [sex hormone] production from cholesterol, thereby interfering with the cancer's ability to withstand androgen deprivation therapy."
Dr Hayley Luxton, Senior Head of Research on the Impact of Prostate Cancer in the UK, said: “Castration-resistant prostate cancer, when the cancer becomes resistant to hormone therapy, is currently very difficult to treat. If further research is successful, we will be able to use this approved drug very quickly to offer better treatment options to patients.
“We are pleased to have funded this study, which shows encouraging evidence that statins can help slow the growth of prostate cancer.
"Now more research is needed to understand when is the best time to add statins to treat prostate cancer and to test this approach in a much larger group of men."
