HEALTHY DIETS AND SCIENCE: Statin users have a 26% increased risk of liver function test abnormalities

The raison d'etre of this website is to provide you with hard scientific information which may help you make informed decisions in your quest for health (so far I have blogged concise summaries of over 1,500 scientific studies and have had three books published).

My research is mainly focused on the effects of cholesterol, saturated fat and statin drugs on health. If you know anyone who is worried about their cholesterol levels and heart disease, or has been told to take statin drugs you could send them a link to this website, and to my statin or cholesterol or heart disease books.

David Evans

Independent Health Researcher

Sunday, 14 September 2014

Statin users have a 26% increased risk of liver function test abnormalities

2004 May;24(5):584-91

Study title and authors:

Statins and liver toxicity: a meta-analysis.

de Denus S, Spinler SA, Miller K, Peterson AM.

Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, PA 19103-4495, USA.

This study can be accessed at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15162892

Liver function tests measure various chemicals in the blood made by the liver. An abnormal result indicates the presence of liver disease.

The objective of the study was to assess the risk of liver function test abnormalities with the use of statins. The study was a meta-analysis of 13 randomized, placebo-controlled trials of statins including 49,275 patients.

The study found that statin users had a 26% increased risk of liver function test abnormalities compared to non users.