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

Tuesday 8 March 2016

Simvastatin can induce amyopathic dermatomyositis

This paper was published in the British Journal of Dermatology 2009 Jul;161(1):206-8
 
Study title and authors:
Simvastatin-induced amyopathic dermatomyositis.
Inhoff O, Peitsch WK, Paredes BE, Goerdt S, Goebeler M.
 
This paper can be accessed at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19438466
 
Dermatomyositis is an inflammatory disease marked by muscle weakness and a distinctive skin rash. Amyopathic dermatomyositis is a variant of dermatomyositis that is characterized by the typical skin rash but without the muscle abnormalities.
 
This paper describes the case of a woman who developed amyopathic dermatomyositis while on statin therapy.
 
(i) A 70 year old woman, treated for several years with simvastatin, sought medical attention for itching, rashes and plaques on sun-exposed parts of her body.
(ii) The patient did not have muscle weakness.
(iii) A skin biopsy revealed dermatitis and lesions coupled with thin and wrinkled skin.
(iv) A diagnosis of simvastatin induced amyopathic dermatomyositis was made.
(v) Simvastatin was discontinued.
(vi) Five months later the skin lesions had almost completely cleared.