Cited by 50Lipoproteins and Cardiovascular HealthCancer, Lipids, and MetabolismBlood Pressure and Hypertension Studies

Management of Statin Intolerant Patients in the Era of Novel Lipid Lowering Therapies: A Critical Approach in Clinical Practice

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Bosco, Giosiana, Di Giacomo Barbagallo, Francesco, Spampinato, Salvatore, Lanzafame, Lorena, Di Pino, Antonino, Piro, Salvatore, Purrello, Francesco, Scicali, Roberto·2023·Journal of Clinical Medicine

Abstract

Statins are the cornerstone of lipid-lowering therapies effective for cardiovascular risk reduction. Although they are generally well tolerated, statin intolerance (SI) is frequent in clinical practice, and it is usually related to the onset of muscle symptoms, which are defined under the acronym SAMS (Statin-Associated Muscle Side Effects). These side effects are responsible for statin treatment discontinuation that results in increased cardiovascular risk. The National Lipid Association (NLA) has recently provided an updated definition of statin intolerance, and a distinction between complete and partial statin intolerance has been reported. The evaluation of symptom severity and the presence of muscle damage biomarker alterations make it essential to adopt a patient-centered approach aimed at obtaining a personalized therapeutic strategy. Firstly, it could be useful to administer a different statin, reduce the dosage or adopt an alternate dosage regimen. However, some patients are unable to tolerate any statin at every dosage, or despite taking statins at the maximum tolerated dose, they fail to achieve the recommended LDL-C target, and thus it is necessary to introduce a non-statin hypolipidemic treatment. Ezetimibe, proprotein-convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) inhibitors such as monoclonal antibodies (alirocumab and evolocumab) or RNA messenger silencing (inclisiran), bempedoic acid or nutraceuticals are non-statin lipid-lowering therapies that could be used as an alternative or in addition to statins to achieve an early and sustained LDL-C reduction in clinical practice. In this review, we evaluated SI management focusing on non-statin lipid lowering therapies and their implications in lipid lowering approaches in clinical practice.

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  • The 2015 European Atherosclerosis Society Consensus Panel recommended multiple strategies to optimize statin tolerance in patients with previous SAMS based on expert opinion due to lack of sufficient data.

    “The 2015 European Atherosclerosis Society Consensus Panel Statement recommended multiple strategies to optimize statin tolerance in patients with previous SAMS based on expert opinion due to lack of sufficient data [14,15].”

    From Safety outcomes of statin vs non-statin lipid-lowering interventions in patients with prior statin-associated muscle symptoms: A systematic review and meta-analysis (2025) · cites this paper as [15]

    The References section identifies the 2015 European Atherosclerosis Society Consensus Panel statement as a work on SAMS assessment and management. Section 4 discusses multiple strategies for managing statin intolerance, but our copy does not say that the 2015 panel recommended those strategies on expert opinion because sufficient data were lacking. (LLM, conf=0.78)

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Authors
Bosco, G., Di Giacomo Barbagallo, F., Spampinato, S., Lanzafame, L., Di Pino, A., Piro, S., Purrello, F., & Scicali, R.
Affiliations
  • University of Catania (IT)
  • Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Catania, Internal Medicine, Garibaldi Hospital, Via Palermo 636, 95122 Catania, Italy
Corresponding author
Scicali, Roberto
Venue
Journal of Clinical Medicine
Publisher
MDPI AG
Published
2023-03-22
Volume
12
Issue
6
Pages
2444
ISSN
2077-0383 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W4360615830
Cited by
50
References
10
Citations by year
2026: 12 · 2025: 22 · 2024: 15 · 2023: 1
FWCI
3.24
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Journal of Clinical Medicine (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
Università di Catania
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Surgery › Lipoproteins and Cardiovascular Health
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Cancer Research › Cancer, Lipids, and Metabolism
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine › Blood Pressure and Hypertension Studies
Keywords
statin intolerance, non-statin lipid-lowering therapy, ezetimibe, PCSK9 inhibitors, alirocumab, evolocumab, inclisiran, bempedoic acid, nutraceuticals, LDL cholesterol targets, statin dose reduction, muscle damage markers, cardiovascular risk

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