All drugs have some benefits and some side effects. The most common side effect associated with statins is muscle pain, due in particular to concern about a link between statins and a potentially fatal muscle condition called rhabdomyolysis. Many studies have examined the prevalence of this phenomenon and found it to be 1 in 10,000-100,000. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essayIn terms of general muscle pain and statin use, and also other side effects such as nausea, insomnia, and fatigue, a 2014 review of statin studies The studies conducted looked at the experiences of 83,000 people and concluded that almost all symptoms reported occurred with the same frequency when patients were given placebo 2 – in other words, the statin is not responsible. Statins can, however, be faulted in two areas: the first drugs are given to the 3% of patients in whom an increase in liver enzymes has occurred and secondly there is a slightly higher rate of development of diabetes in those taking statins (3%) compared to those taking placebo (2.4%)2. In asymptomatic patients it is unclear whether increased liver enzymes are harmful, but many people naturally increase liver enzymes due to obesity or alcohol intake anyway, and in many cases the results are dose-dependent in such that lowering the statin dose leads to the normalization of liver enzymes. In terms of diabetes, the study found that only 1 in 5 new diabetes diagnoses could be directly attributed to taking a statin. Although diabetes itself is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease, the beneficial effect of statins on the cardiovascular system is still thought to outweigh the risk that it might cause diabetes. The controversy In 2014 the UK health watchdog, NICE, published guidance suggesting that the threshold for offering a statin to an individual should be reduced from 20% of the risk of a cardiovascular event in the next 10 years to 10% . The percent risk is calculated using a tool called QRISK2, which takes into account many factors including age, blood pressure, smoking habits and cholesterol. Statins have demonstrated benefits in high-risk patients with established coronary heart disease, but concern was raised that in low-risk populations the risk of side effects and turning healthy people into “patients” outweighed the potential benefit. However, the 2012 report found that “lowering LDL cholesterol with statin therapy significantly reduced the risk of major vascular events in individuals with a 5-year risk of less than 10%, even in those with no history of vascular disease.” ”1. Much controversy has also been created about statins and whether or not they are linked to dementia. It has been suggested that confusion, memory loss and dementia are possible consequences of statin therapy, but reports have been highly variable, making it difficult to draw a true conclusion. In 2000, two studies reported a lower risk of dementia in statin users, but subsequent reports published mixed results, including favorable, unfavorable, and neutral results. More recently (20134) a systematic review and meta-analysis of the short- and long-term cognitive effects of statins was undertaken, which found that short-term use of statins had no consistent effect in terms of confounding or memory loss. in: 2014