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Drugs
that lower cholesterol may increase the risk of polyneuropathy,
according to researchers from the University of Southern Denmark.
Neuropathy
is a type of nerve damage, with symptoms including weakness
(usually in the arms and hands or legs and feet), facial weakness,
difficulty walking, and sensation changes (usually in the
limbs) including pain, burning, tingling, numbness or decreased
sensation. Polyneuropathy occurs in more than one nerve.
Researchers
used a population-based patients registry to identify cases
of neuropathy during 1994 to 1998, comparing them to a control
group of healthy individuals. A prescription register was
used to assess the participants' exposure to drugs and estimate
the use of statins in both the neuropathy and the control
group.
The authors
verified a diagnosis of neuropathy in 166 cases, each being
classified as definite (35), probable (54), or possible (77),
depending on how certain the researchers were that there was
no obvious cause for the neuropathy, such as diabetes or kidney
disease. Nine of the participants had taken statins for an
average of three years.
Participants
who had taken statins were found to be four to 14 times more
likely to develop polyneuropathy from an unknown cause than
the control group.
Several
of the statin drugs currently being prescribed include a warning
about neuropathy as a possible side effect. However, the benefits
of these statin drugs are great enough to outweigh the low
risk of neuropathy, say the authors of the study published
in the journal Neurology.
Source:
Medical Week staff,
week of May 19, 2002
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