Statins May Harm Some With Heart Failure

Statin drugs may increase problems with breathing and exercise in people with one form of heart failure, a new study suggests. Researchers looked at medical records of 136 people. Most of them had diastolic heart failure. With this condition, the heart is stiff or does not relax fully between beats. The other patients had systolic heart failure. This means that the heart does not contract fully when it beats. Some people in both groups took a statin drug. These drugs reduce cholesterol and inflammation. Among people with diastolic heart failure, those who took statins had poorer lung function than those who did not. They also did only about half as much exercise. These effects were not seen among statin users with systolic heart failure. Muscle pain is a side effect for some people who take statins.