Health News

Heart Meds and Healthy Minds
Statins, a type of medication used to lower cholesterol, recently underwent some label changes. This caused some confusion about a potential association with cognition problems, including short-term memory loss.
Cholesterol Rx May Benefit Bypass Surgery
To reduce “bad” cholesterol, patients commonly take medications called statins. Receiving this treatment before bypass surgery may reduce the risk of post-surgery complications.
Cutting Amputation Risk with Statins
Patients with diabetes are at an increased risk of amputation (surgical removal of limb), heart disease and death, so the right treatment is critical.
Cholesterol Rx Good For Joints Too
Osteoarthritis and high cholesterol may seem like totally unrelated conditions. But as it turns out, the same medicines that lower cholesterol may also help prevent osteoarthritis. 
Statins Reduce More Than Cholesterol
Statins are effective and popular cholesterol-lowering medications. But they also have some possible side effects, including memory loss and high blood sugar. Now lower testosterone may join the list.
New Safety Concern for Cholesterol Meds
Some medications used to treat high cholesterol, like Lipitor or Caduet , were linked to some cases of myopathy , a muscle wasting disease.
Cholesterol May Be Best Treated With Higher Dose Statins
A more intensive dose of cholesterol-lowering statins appears to help higher risk patients better manage cholesterol, a new study suggests.
RA Patients: Don't Quit Your Statins
When you stop taking a medication, your body can react poorly to the change. This may be the case for arthritis patients who stop taking a type of cholesterol-lowering drug.
Take a Liver Test Before Taking Statin Drugs
U.S. Food and Drug Administration officials have announced they will no longer recommend regular liver enzyme testing for patients taking one of several popular cholesterol-lowering drugs such as Lipitor ( atorvastatin ).
Experimental Cholesterol Drug Shows Promise
Eli Lily's experimental drug evacetrapib has been shown to raise good cholesterol levels while also decreasing bad cholesterol. It also successfully lowered triglyceride levels.