In some cases, statins may worsen heart disease

The last article I posted was about how statins could reduce cholesterol levels and lessen the risk for heart disease. While this is true for most people, recent studies show that in some cases statins may actually worsen heart disease.

According to Health.com, there are two types of heart failures: diastolic and systolic. In diastolic, the heart stiffens and is unable to fill itself with blood between beats. Systolic heart failure, on the other hand, is when the heart is enlarged and struggles to pump enough blood – which can lead to fluids building in the limbs and lungs. In that case, the person will usually experience fatigue and a shortness of breath, 2 functional limitations which are typically seen in Social Security Disability cases based on heart disease.

Supposedly, there aren’t specific guidelines to follow to decide whether patients should engage in taking statins. Doctors will prescribe the statin drugs to people who suffer from both systolic and diastolic heart failure. Doctors base their decisions to prescribe them to patients on things like the patient’s cholesterol level, age, or whether they have coronary artery disease.

But some scientists at Northeastern University recently conducted a study involving statins and lung health. About 140 people were tested and about 60 of them take statins. The results of the study showed that the people taking statins, which can cause muscle damage in some cases, had worse lung function and exercise tolerance than those who were not taking the statins. Surprisingly, the statins seemed to only help those with systolic heart failure, and not those with diastolic heart failure.

So this study puts a new spin on the benefits of taking statins to lessen the risk for or improve heart disease. I wanted to follow up with this article since I suggested in the last post that statins are known as a positive choice for those suffering from heart disease or high cholesterol. This just goes to show that you can never stop educating yourself about matters surrounding your health.

In this case, the study group plans to further investigate the results of the experiment and work in different variables so as to determine what negative impacts, if any, are associated with statin use.