Statins are a group of medicines often used to lower high cholesterol levels. They help reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke.
One of the commonly used statins is called rosuvastatin, which is known by its brand name Crestor. It has been widely prescribed to people with high cholesterol. However, a new study suggests that rosuvastatin may not be safe for everyone, especially when used in high doses.
The research comes from Johns Hopkins University in the United States. The scientists wanted to understand if rosuvastatin could harm the kidneys. This concern is not new. When the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) first approved rosuvastatin, there were already some early signs that it might cause kidney problems.
These included hematuria, which means blood in the urine, and proteinuria, which means protein in the urine. Still, not many studies followed up on these concerns over time.
To take a closer look, the research team studied the health records of many people from 2011 to 2019. They compared over 152,000 people who started taking rosuvastatin with nearly 796,000 people who began taking another statin called atorvastatin. Atorvastatin is also a popular statin used to lower cholesterol.
The researchers followed these patients for three years. They found that 2.9% of those taking rosuvastatin had blood in their urine, and 1.0% had protein in their urine. These are both signs of kidney problems.
When comparing the two groups, rosuvastatin users had an 8% higher chance of developing hematuria, a 17% higher chance of developing proteinuria, and a 15% higher chance of having serious kidney issues like kidney failure. In serious cases, some people needed dialysis or even a kidney transplant.
The study also showed that the risk of kidney problems was higher when people took larger doses of rosuvastatin. This was especially true for people who already had advanced kidney disease. Shockingly, 44% of these patients were given more rosuvastatin than the FDA recommends for people with poor kidney function.
The researchers believe there is now strong evidence that rosuvastatin can harm the kidneys, especially in people who already have kidney issues or are taking higher doses of the drug. They also found that both rosuvastatin and atorvastatin were equally good at protecting the heart.
This means that choosing atorvastatin over rosuvastatin might be a safer option for some people, particularly those with kidney concerns.
The study was done by Dr. Jung-im Shin and her team and was published in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology. It sends a clear message to doctors and patients: be careful with the dosage of rosuvastatin, especially if you already have kidney problems.
If you care about heart health, please read studies about how eating eggs can help reduce heart disease risk, and Vitamin K2 could help reduce heart disease risk.
For more information about heart health, please see recent studies about how to remove plaques that cause heart attacks, and results showing a new way to prevent heart attacks, strokes.
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