02/27/2026
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Continuous Statin Use & Muscle Decline
A study published recently in the Journal of Cachexia, Sarcopenia and Muscle raises concerns about a possible side-effect of long-term statin drug use: a significant decline in muscle mass and function.
The study assessed data from nearly 300,000 participants in the UK BioBank – approximately 260,000 non-statin users and nearly 40,000 statin users. (The UK Biobank is a prospective cohort of approximately half a million middle-aged and older participants across the United Kingdom. Baseline data collection occurred between 2006 and 2010, and included sociodemographic and lifestyle information, medical history, medication use, physical measurements, and biological samples.)
Researchers determined that compared to those who had never taken statins, continuous statin users displayed a 25% decline in grip strength and a 73% decline in appendicular lean mass, and this was irrespective of genetic susceptibility to statin response.
