A recent study from Johns Hopkins University has raised concerns about rosuvastatin, a widely used drug for lowering cholesterol. The research suggests that taking high doses of this medication could increase the risk of kidney damage. This discovery may lead doctors to rethink how they prescribe the drug.
Rosuvastatin belongs to a group of medications called statins, which help lower bad cholesterol and reduce the risk of heart disease. Millions of people rely on statins to keep their cholesterol under control, and rosuvastatin is one of the most commonly prescribed. However, this new study has revealed potential risks that had not been fully examined before.
When the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) first approved rosuvastatin, there were already some warnings about its possible effects on the kidneys.
Reports showed that some people developed blood in their urine (hematuria) and protein in their urine (proteinuria) after taking the drug. These could be signs of kidney damage, but little research had been done to confirm how serious these risks were in real-world patients.
To investigate further, researchers at Johns Hopkins analyzed electronic health records from 2011 to 2019. They compared people taking rosuvastatin to those using another popular statin, atorvastatin. The study included more than 150,000 people who had started rosuvastatin and nearly 800,000 who had started atorvastatin.
Over a period of three years, 2.9% of rosuvastatin users developed hematuria, and 1.0% developed proteinuria. More importantly, compared to atorvastatin users, those taking rosuvastatin had an 8% higher risk of hematuria, a 17% higher risk of proteinuria, and a 15% higher risk of severe kidney failure—serious enough to require dialysis or a transplant.
The risk of kidney problems increased even more for people taking higher doses of rosuvastatin. This was especially concerning for patients who already had kidney disease.
Shockingly, 44% of these high-risk patients were given doses of rosuvastatin that exceeded the FDA’s recommendations for people with poor kidney function.
Despite these risks, the study found that rosuvastatin and atorvastatin were equally effective in lowering cholesterol and providing heart health benefits. This raises an important question: is the increased risk of kidney problems worth it, especially for people who already have kidney disease?
The findings, published in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, suggest that doctors and patients need to consider these risks when choosing a cholesterol-lowering treatment. If a patient is at risk for kidney problems, a different statin—such as atorvastatin—might be a safer option.
This research highlights the need for ongoing monitoring of medications even after they are approved. As scientists learn more about how drugs affect people over time, medical guidelines can be updated to improve patient safety.
For now, doctors may need to be more cautious when prescribing high doses of rosuvastatin, especially for those with kidney disease.
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