Statins

Guest: Matthew Shun-Shin, Clinical Lecturer, Cardiology, Imperial College London Statins for lowering cholesterol are among the most widely-prescribed drugs in America. But a lot of patients at risk for heart attack or stroke skip doses—or stop taking statins altogether—because of unpleasant side effects. Suppose it’s not the drug causing the side-effects, though? Researchers at Imperial College London did a clinical trial where they swapped the statins people were taking with just plain old placebo pills—and those people still reported the unpleasant side-effects.