IESIOSIERONE For many that gamble is the possibility of side effeCtS. A study and subsequent article in the BMJ questioned the data behind the NICE recommendations, warning that some trials included in the analysis were funded by statin manufacturers and that data on side effects was lacking. Patients taking statins often anecdotally report muscle pain. although this has not been seen in the major, placebo-controlled trials. The BM] article said that one in five people on statins experiences a side effect of some kind, altnough It later withdrew this claim after Rory Collins at the University of Oxford, a leading statin researcher. spoke out against the fat EVEI? heart attack prevented, accuracy of the statistics. Yet the anecdotal reports continue mote people will be toil statics to surface. -Some doctors say they keep seeing patients with the same complaint and they feel its due to the stab n: says David Preiss of the University 01 Glasgow. It doesn't look that way from the trials. but we need a better answer." There does seem to be a link to diabetes. Preiss has studied the connection between statins and type 2 diabetes. He says taking a medium-dose statin raises your risk by 10 per cent. and the risk continues to rase in line with dosage. These are modest changes - people who are probably already on the trajectory to diabetes, and the stain pushes them over the threshold." In light of all the concerns. Collins's. undertaking a major renew of the data on side effects, which he hopes will reassure people. That's important, he says, because fears over statins are discouraging people from taking them. to the detnrnent of their health. The results should be out later this year. In the meantime. if you've ever had a heart attack or stroke, you should be on a stain it possible, says Preiss. "And if you haven't, but you've been shown to be moderately or markedly at risk of having a heart attack, the benefits of a