Lipitor (also known as atorvastatin) is the most popularly prescribed member of a group of cholesterol lowering drugs called statins. Pravachol, Zocor, Lescol and Crestor are other members of the group. Last year, a group of researchers from Duke University collected all of the cases of memory problems in people taking one of the statins. About 60 cases were found. Thirty-six of the cases involved people taking Zocor, 23 cases involved people taking Lipitor and one case involved taking Pravachol. I should point out that there are millions of people (myself included) taking one of the statin drugs to lower their cholesterol. So, the likelihood of having a memory problem while on one of these drugs looks like it is very small. Most of the people who complained noticed a problem after a couple of months of treatment with a statin. The problem was with short-term memory and it went away when the drug was discontinued.
None of the clinical trials of the statins saw an increased risk of memory problems in people treated. In fact, several of the studies saw a reduced risk in the development of Alzheimer's disease. While the scattered reports of memory loss are disturbing, they should be put into perspective. The problem is very rare and it should not stop people from taking a statin if they are at high risk of heart attack or stroke.
Wagstaff LR. Mitton MW. Arvik BM. Doraiswamy PM. Statin-associated memory loss: analysis of 60 case reports and review of the literature. [Review] [27 refs] Pharmacotherapy. 23(7):871-80, 2003 Jul.
