Statin side effects – how many real ones are there? 

If you’ve been prescribed a statin, you may have heard that they can come with a lot of possible side effects.

Although statins can lower your cholesterol levels and reduce your risk of having a heart attack and stroke, some people are reluctant to take them due to these reported side effects.

But most of these side effects are not actually caused by statins, according to a new British Heart Foundation (BHF) funded study published in February 2026 in The Lancet.

Researchers led by a team from the University of Oxford found statins may not cause 62 out of 66 side effects commonly listed on statin information leaflets, including:

• weight gain
• headaches
• feeling or being sick
• sleep problems
• erectile dysfunction
• memory loss
• depression.

Across 19 randomised trials with nearly 124,000 people in total, those who were taking a dummy pill without any medicine were just as likely to report side effects as those taking a real statin for an average of 4.5 years.

People may report symptoms while taking a dummy pill due to a psychological effect called the nocebo effect. This is when you expect that a new treatment will cause certain side effects, which leads you to actually experience them.

• Learn more about the nocebo effect with statins.

The only symptoms slightly more common in people taking statins were:

• 2 different types of unusual liver blood test results (but not liver disease)
• changes in the composition of urine
• swollen feet, legs and ankles caused by fluid build-up (oedema).

The researchers also reviewed 4 trials with around 30,000 people either taking a high-intensity statin with a stronger cholesterol-lowering effect or a low-intensity statin for 5 years on average.

They found that, across all 66 side effects, only unusual liver blood test results were slightly more common in people taking a high-intensity statin than those taking a low-intensity version. 

What about other statin side effects?

This study did not investigate whether statins raised the risk of diabetes, muscle pain or other muscle diseases, such as myopathy and rhabdomyolysis, which are already known to be rare side effects.

For example, the same group of researchers reported in their 2022 paper that taking a statin can slightly increase the likelihood of developing muscle pain, with 11 extra reports of the condition per 1,000 people in their first year of taking statins.

They have also shown that statins can cause a small increase in blood sugar levels, so people already at high risk of diabetes may develop the condition sooner.

But overall, the researchers say the proven cardiovascular benefits of statins outweigh the slightly increased risk of diabetes, muscle pain and very rare muscle disease.

• Read more about statin side effects.

What do the researchers say?

The researchers say their latest findings on 66 possible side effects listed on patient leaflets show “some of the information provided in statin product labels is unreliable and misleading”.

They say that current leaflet information has been based on observational studies that did not compare statins with a dummy pill, meaning the results were likely affected by the nocebo effect.

This inaccurate information may prevent many people from taking statins who would benefit from them, the researchers warn.

They point to an analysis in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) in 2016 that found up to 12 per cent more people stopped taking statins after intense media coverage in 2013 of misleading claims that statins cause side effects in 1 in 5 people.

This may have resulted in an extra 2,000 to 6,000 cardiovascular events, such as heart attacks and strokes, over the following 10 years, they estimate.

How good was the research?

Overall, the study analysed 23 large, randomised control trials. This type of trial is the gold standard for measuring the effects of any treatment.

In 19 of these trials, 123,940 people were randomly given either 1 of 5 statins available in the UK (atorvastatin, fluvastatin, pravastatin, rosuvastatin and simvastatin) or a dummy pill for an average of 4.5 years.

The participants were 63 years old on average and around three quarters (72 per cent) were men. Just under half (48 per cent) had previously been diagnosed with vascular disease, while nearly a fifth (18 per cent) had a history of diabetes.

The study also included 4 trials comparing high-intensity statins with low-intensity statins over an average of 5 years in 30,724 people who had all been diagnosed with vascular disease.

All 23 studies were double-blinded. This means neither the participants nor the researchers knew who was taking which pill, which reduced the risk of bias.

How good was the media coverage?

Statin side effects have drawn lots of media attention over the years, so it was not surprising that many UK news outlets reported on the findings of this study, including the Daily Express, The Guardian, BBC and ITV.

All these reports said that taking statins can reduce your risk of having a heart attack or stroke, and that the research found the benefits of statins outweighed any risk of side effects.

Most of the reporting on the research was accurate, although only the Daily Express included the key details that the study reviewed randomised control trials and that statin patient information leaflets are based on less reliable observational studies.

The BHF verdict

This latest analysis provides more important evidence that statins do not cause many of the reported side effects that may stop people from taking them.

BHF’s Chief Scientific and Medical Officer, Professor Bryan Williams, said: “This evidence is a much-needed counter to the misinformation around statins and should help prevent unnecessary deaths from cardiovascular disease.”

He noted that the research identified real side effects of statins too: “Recognising which side effects might genuinely be associated with statins is also important as it will help doctors make decisions about when to use alternative treatments.” 

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