A new study suggests that for people who currently smoke or used to smoke, statins may help slow down muscle loss in the chest, while aspirin might increase it.
The research was published in the January 2025 issue of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases: Journal of the COPD Foundation. It focused on how two common medications—statins and aspirin—affect muscle health in smokers and former smokers.
Many people in this group take statins to lower their cholesterol and aspirin to protect their heart. But people who smoke or used to smoke, especially those with a lung condition called COPD, are already more likely to lose muscle. This kind of muscle loss can lead to worse health and make breathing harder.
COPD, or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, includes serious lung conditions like chronic bronchitis and emphysema. It affects over 30 million people in the United States and is the fourth leading cause of death worldwide.
Smoking, air pollution, and genetics are all known causes. One of the major concerns for people with COPD is muscle loss, especially in the upper body, since it can make it even more difficult to breathe and stay active.
To understand how medications may affect this problem, researchers looked at CT scans of the chest from 4,191 people in the COPDGene study. They measured the size and quality of chest muscles at two different points in time to see how much muscle had been lost.
The study was led by Dr. Toru Shirahata, a lung doctor at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School.
He said that many smokers and former smokers also have heart disease or diabetes, so they are often prescribed statins and aspirin. In this study, people who took statins had slower muscle loss in their chest, while those who took aspirin had faster muscle loss.
These results suggest that statins might help protect muscles in people at risk, while aspirin might make muscle loss worse. This doesn’t mean people should stop taking aspirin on their own, but it does raise questions that doctors should think about when treating smokers and former smokers, especially those with COPD.
Knowing how common medicines affect muscle can help doctors make better treatment plans. Since keeping muscle strength is important for people with COPD, especially for breathing and staying mobile, finding ways to protect muscle is very important.
The researchers said that while this study provides helpful information, it does not prove that statins or aspirin directly cause the changes in muscle. The study looked at imaging data and more research is needed to understand exactly how these drugs affect muscle health.
If future studies confirm these results, doctors may look at new ways to manage heart health and cholesterol in people with COPD while also protecting their muscles. This could lead to more personalized treatment plans that help people stay stronger and healthier for longer.
If you care about muscle, please read studies about factors that can cause muscle weakness in older people, and scientists find a way to reverse high blood sugar and muscle loss.
For more health information, please see recent studies about an easy, cheap way to maintain muscles, and results showing these vegetables essential for your muscle strength.
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