The downside of statin drugs

Golomb, an assistant professor of medicine at UC San Diego, also leads a five-year, $5-million study funded by the National Institutes of Health. She is trying to determine statins' effects on other aspects of health, including mood, cognition, quality of life and blood chemistry.

As part of her research, she has come across hundreds of cases in which patients on statin drugs report that their doctors ignored complaints about side effects by attributing their problems to non-drug-related issues, such as age. Some doctors "don't understand how these drugs could cause such effects and therefore assume that they don't," Golomb said.

Although statins have been on the market nearly 15 years, researchers are only beginning to understand how they affect the body over the longer term. Statins reduce levels of cholesterol, a waxy substance made in the liver that in excess amounts can contribute to the clogging of blood vessels, setting the stage for heart attacks and strokes. But cholesterol also is essential to the proper functioning of every cell and some of it gets converted into such important hormones as cortisol, estrogen and testosterone.

By reducing low-density lipoprotein, or so-called bad cholesterol, statins can prevent heart attacks and save lives, particularly among middle-aged and slightly older men at high risk of heart disease.

At the same time, they may inadvertently disrupt other functions in the body, said Golomb, who describes herself as a "relatively lone voice" urging caution. Studies so far haven't demonstrated a survival benefit for women, lower-risk men and men and women older than 70, she said, raising important questions about risks versus benefits in those groups. For example, she said, impaired memory and thought are more likely to have a profound effect on seniors' independence, while muscle weakness from the medications could make them more vulnerable to the perils of falling.