A large, 8-year retrospective study suggests that long-term statin use may increase the risk of kidney disease. the study, published Dec. 1, 2015, in the American Journal of Cardiology, suggests that people taking statins are 30-36 percent more likely to develop kidney disease than those who do not take them. Despite this, patients taking statins should not stop taking them, says Dr. Ishak A Mansi: “We don’t have studies weighing the pros and cons of taking statins.” The benefits of statins have been well documented. Dr. Mansi said, “We lack extensive real-world data on the relationship between statins and overall morbidity and mortality, and further research is needed on their use as first-line preventive medications. ” He also warned, “The new ACC guidelines recommend statins for more healthy people, and we’d better make sure this doesn’t cause needless harm before that happens.” Clinicians should inform patients that statins still have side effects that we can’t be sure of, but that it has benefits that we are sure of, while doctors should monitor creatinine levels in patients taking long-term statins. The researchers analyzed complete Medicare data from 2003-2012 for people aged 30-85 living in San Antonio. There were 43,438 patients, of whom 13,626 took statins and 29,812 did not. 73.5% took simvastatin, 17.4% took atorvastatin, 7% took pravastatin, and 1.7% took rosuvastatin; 38% of patients received high-intensity doses. The minimum duration of administration was 4.65 years. The investigators compared 6,342 statin takers with 6,342 non-takers, looking at baseline population size, co-morbidities, incidence of kidney disease, health insurance use and drug use. The youngest age was 56 years and 45% were women.