http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. Statins, the most widely prescribed drugs worldwide, are often suggested to lower cholesterol and prevent heart disease in individuals with obesity, diabetes and metabolic syndrome, which is a combination of medical disorders including excess body fat and/or high levels of blood pressure, blood sugar and/or cholesterol. However, University of Missouri researchers found that simvastatin, a generic type of statin previously sold under the brand name "Zocor," hindered the positive effects of exercise for obese and overweight adults. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-cholesterol-lowering-drug-benefits-obese-adults.html Cardiology Wed, 15 May 2013 15:42:27 EST news287851338 Patients taking high potency statins for high blood pressure are at a 34% higher risk of being hospitalised for acute kidney injury (AKI), compared with those taking low potency statins, a paper published today in BMJ suggests. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-high-potency-statins-pose-significantly.html Cardiology Tue, 19 Mar 2013 18:53:25 EST news282937999 While two large clinical trials recently showed that adding niacin to statin therapy failed to improve clinical outcomes despite a significant increase in HDL-C levels, little is known about exactly why the increased HDL-C levels did not reduce the risk of cardiovascular events, including heart attack and stroke. Now, a small study from researchers the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, has shown that while niacin increased measured levels of HDL-C, it did not improve the functionality of HDL. This may provide an explanation for the failure of niacin to further reduce cardiovascular risk. The study results were reported today at the 62nd Annual Scientific Session of the American College of Cardiology in San Francisco (Abstract # 919-7). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-niacin-added-statin-therapy-hdl.html Cardiology Tue, 12 Mar 2013 08:40:01 EST news282295749 The largest randomised study of the vitamin niacin in patients with occlusive arterial disease (narrowing of the arteries) has shown a significant increase in adverse side-effects when it is combined with statin treatment. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-hps2-thrive-trial-side-effects-quarter-heart.html Cardiology Tue, 26 Feb 2013 19:00:04 EST news281124976 (HealthDay)—People who exercise along with taking statins to lower their high cholesterol levels can dramatically reduce their risk of dying, a large new study suggests. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-statins-lowering-cholesterol.html Cardiology Wed, 28 Nov 2012 17:00:25 EST news273339182 Delayed wound healing is a major complication of diabetes because the physiological changes in tissues and cells impair the wound healing process. This can result in additional disease outcomes such as diabetic foot ulcer, a significant cause of morbidity in the growing population of diabetic patients. A new study has found that topically applied simvastatin accelerates wound healing in diabetic mice, suggesting important implications for humans with diabetes. This study is published in the December issue of The American Journal of Pathology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-topical-simvastatin-shown-wound-diabetes.html Diabetes Tue, 27 Nov 2012 12:50:55 EST news273243030 (HealthDay)—Combination treatment with fenofibrate and simvastatin (FENO-S) significantly reduces postprandial (PP) triglyceride (TG) levels compared with simvastatin alone in all subjects, regardless of fasting TG level, but reduces atherogenic apolipoprotein (apo) B48 particles only in those with increased fasting TG levels, according to research published online Oct. 25 in Diabetes Care. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-fenofibrate-simvastatin-benefit-dyslipidemia-explored.html Diabetes Thu, 01 Nov 2012 19:20:01 EST news271013848 In a study of more than 1,000 adults, researchers at the University of California, San Diego, found that individuals taking cholesterol-lowering statin drugs are more likely than non-users to experience decreased energy, fatigue upon exertion, or both. The researchers suggest that these findings should be taken into account by doctors when weighing risk versus benefit in prescribing statins. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-statins-shown-fatigue.html Medications Mon, 11 Jun 2012 16:00:03 EST news258648818 (HealthDay) -- The widely used class of cholesterol-lowering medications known as statins may help elderly patients with high blood pressure avoid developing atrial fibrillation, a heart rhythm abnormality tied to stroke. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-statins-irregular-heartbeat-elderly.html Cardiology Thu, 10 May 2012 05:50:01 EST news255844496 (HealthDay) -- Use of diagnostic codes, such as International Classification of Diseases -- Ninth Revision (ICD-9) codes, may result in misclassification of rare, adverse drug reactions (ADRs), including the risk of rhabdomyolysis from high-dose simvastatin, according to a research letter published in the April 18 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, a theme issue on comparative effectiveness research. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-icd-codes-underestimate-statin-linked-rhabdomyolysis.html Medications Wed, 18 Apr 2012 01:20:01 EST news253928794 A cholesterol drug commonly prescribed to reduce cardiovascular disease risk restores blood vessel function in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease, according to a study in the April 4 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience. The drug simvastatin (Zocor) — which works by slowing cholesterol production — also improves learning and memory in adult, but not aged Alzheimer's model mice. The findings add to a growing body of evidence that early treatment with statins protects against some of the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-cholesterol-drug-benefit-animal-alzheimer.html Alzheimer's disease & dementia Tue, 03 Apr 2012 17:00:18 EST news252688481 (HealthDay) -- The combination of extended-release niacin (N) with ezetimibe plus simvastatin (E/S) to treat hyperlipidemia is associated with increased fasting glucose (FG) levels compared with E/S alone, but these cases tend to be transient and remit without intervention, according to research published in the April issue of Diabetes Care. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-extended-release-niacin-fasting-glucose.html Diabetes Wed, 28 Mar 2012 14:50:01 EST news252159122 In the United States, the cost paid for statins (drugs to lower cholesterol) in people under the age of 65 who have private insurance is approximately 400 percent higher than comparable costs paid by the government in the United Kingdom (U.K.). These findings, from the Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) Boston Collaborative Drug Surveillance Program, are the first results of a comprehensive comparison of prescription drug costs between the U.S. and U.K. The study appears on-line in the journal Pharmacotherapy. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-statin-percent-higher-uk.html Medications Thu, 05 Jan 2012 13:55:09 EST news244994100 Statins safely reduce the risk of cardiovascular illness even years after treatment is stopped, according to a probe into the popular cholesterol-busters published on Wednesday. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-heart-disease-long-term-benefit-statins.html Cardiology Wed, 23 Nov 2011 05:22:24 EST news241248125 Statins can be effective at lowering cholesterol, but they have a perplexing tendency to work for some people and not others. Gut bacteria may be the reason. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-gut-bacteria-affect-statin-drug.html Medical research Thu, 13 Oct 2011 17:00:04 EST news237733100 The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today announced new limitations to the use of high-dose simvastatin, due to the increased risk of muscle pain and weakness (myopathy) and in rare cases, kidney damage and failure. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-fda-limits-high-dose-simvastatin-zocor.html Cardiology Thu, 09 Jun 2011 11:42:39 EST news226838536 Despite their beneficial effects in treating heart disease, neither aspirin nor simvastatin appear to offer benefit to patients suffering from pulmonary artery hypertension (PAH), according to a National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded study conducted at four U.S. medical centers. This was the first NIH-funded randomized clinical trial (RCT) in PAH. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-heart-drugs-ineffective-pulmonary-arterial.html Cardiology Wed, 18 May 2011 17:28:59 EST news224958528