Creatine Supplementation Prevents Statin-Induced Muscle Toxicity

Abstract

Letters16 November 2010Creatine Supplementation Prevents Statin-Induced Muscle ToxicityDavid A. Shewmon, MD and John M. Craig, BADavid A. Shewmon, MDFrom Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Wooster, OH 44691; and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD 21205.Search for more papers by this author and John M. Craig, BAFrom Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Wooster, OH 44691; and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD 21205.Search for more papers by this authorAuthor, Article, and Disclosure Informationhttps://doi.org/10.7326/0003-4819-153-10-201011160-00024 SectionsAboutFull TextPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail Background: Muscle toxicity is the most important adverse effect of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase inhibitors (statins). The incidence of statin-induced myopathy is debated, depending in part on whether the milder and more common symptoms of muscle ache, weakness, and cramping are part of a continuum that also includes rhabdomyolysis, renal failure, and death. Although creatine kinase (CK) elevation is a marker of injury often used clinically to follow the severity of statin-induced myopathy, it has limited usefulness for defining statin-induced myopathy. For example, muscle-toxicity symptoms and biopsy evidence of mitochondrial dysfunction without CK elevation have been documented during statin therapy ...