Statins may be associated with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

This study was published in Drug Safety 2009;32(8):649-61

Study title and authors:
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis-like conditions in possible association with cholesterol-lowering drugs: an analysis of patient reports to the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) Statin Effects Study.

Golomb BA, Kwon EK, Koperski S, Evans MA.
Department of Medicine, University of California, San Diego, California 92093-0995, USA. bgolomb@ucsd.edu

This study can be accessed at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19591530

Dr Golomb notes that cases of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or ALS-like conditions have arisen in apparent association with statins (and other cholesterol-lowering drugs). This study sought to find evidence whether the connection may be causal.

The study included ten patients, with either a formal or probable diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis arising in association with statin drug therapy.

The study found:
(a) All patients reported improvement of symptoms with drug discontinuation.
(b) All patients reported onset or exacerbation of symptoms with drug change, rechallenge or dose increase.

The results from the study suggest that statins (and other cholesterol-lowering drugs) may be associated with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.