Statins make women aggressive
Larissa Melville completed her traineeship in the editorial team of . After studying biology at Ludwig Maximilians University and the Technical University of Munich, she first got to know digital media online at Focus and then decided to learn medical journalism from scratch.
More about the experts All content is checked by medical journalists.MunichStatins lower the cholesterol level and protect against a heart attack. However, they have an unusual side effect, especially in women: They make you aggressive.
In the past, behaviors such as irritability or violence have been associated with taking cholesterol-lowering drugs. However, there was never any clear evidence. Now, for the first time, researchers led by Beatrice Golomb from the University of California, San Diego, have examined more precisely the effect of statins on the level of aggression.
Placebo versus statins
Over 1,000 adult men and women participated in the study. The researchers randomly divided them into two groups. Some took a cholesterol-lowering drug (simvastatin or pravastatin) for six months, while others took an ineffective dummy drug (placebo). Neither the test subjects nor the researchers themselves knew who got which variant.
The team determined their readiness to be aggressive - including aggressive actions against others, themselves and objects - on the basis of a scale. Each aggression event was weighted with regard to its severity. In addition, the researchers determined the testosterone level of the test subjects and analyzed their sleep quality. “Both of these factors can change aggressive behavior,” says Golomb. It is also known that simvastatin in particular influences these two parameters. In addition, the researchers determined the serotonin content in the blood of the test subjects, which influences people's moods. Because there is the assumption that this decreases with a low cholesterol level and can trigger changed behavior.
Women more aggressive, men more gentle
The evaluation showed that women over 45 years of age after menopause, i.e. the time of their last menstruation, were significantly more aggressive after taking the statins than those who had only received a placebo. Aggressive behavior increased particularly sharply in women who had a low level of aggression at the start of the study. For men, however, the picture was surprisingly different: for them, the statins - especially pravastatin - dampened their aggressiveness. This had the greatest impact in younger men, who are generally more prone to aggression.
Sleep and testosterone levels changed
In addition, the researchers were able to show how changes in testosterone levels and sleep problems as a result of statins influence the level of aggression: "If the testosterone level in men was reduced by the statins, the aggressive behavior also decreased," reports Golomb. And as simvastatin worsened sleep quality, aggression increased.
The results show that statins work differently in each person - both gender and age play a decisive role. What exactly is behind the mechanism is not yet known. The researchers could not confirm the assumption that a change in the serotonin content controls the aggressiveness. Golomb thinks it is conceivable that factors such as oxidative stress or cell energy can explain the interplay between statins and behavior.
Put blood lipid levels in their place
If the blood fat level is unbalanced over the long term, this can have serious consequences, for example a heart attack or stroke. To prevent this from happening, triglycerides and the “bad” LDL cholesterol must not exceed certain values and the “good” HDL cholesterol should be present as much as possible. Statins lower the LDL and triglycerol levels - by inhibiting the enzyme HMG-CoA reductase, which is involved in the production of blood lipids.
Sources:
Golomb B. et al .: Statin Effects on Aggression: Results from the UCSD Statin Study, a Randomized Control Trial. Plos One.DOI: 10.1371 / journal.pone.0124451
Press release of the University of California, San Diego Health, July 1st, 2015
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