This peer-reviewed review article seeks to assess coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) serum levels in patients taking statin medications. It also determines whether CoQ10 supplementations are beneficial for alleviating or improving statin-related myopathic symptoms. These improvements can be inferred by symptom improvements as well as increases in plasma levels of CoQ10. In this study, an electronic search is conducted on several databases to select studies performed within 2005-2010. The references of the chosen studies are also searched for potential additional applicable studies. A variety of research report types are reviewed. A wide age group and different strains of statin are used in this study. This review article examines studies that illustrate
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The study includes 76 patients who are currently receiving statin therapy and are experiencing myalgias in two or more extremities. They are randomly placed in either a placebo condition or a CoQ10 supplementation condition for three months. Pain questionnaires and visual analog scale (VAS) for assessment of pain intensity are completed at baseline and at monthly visits. The patient’s experience no comparable benefits by taking CoQ10 supplements twice daily. At 1 month, scores in both conditions drop but are not significantly different from each other. The results demonstrate that CoQ10 is not more effective in treating presumed statin-induced myalgias than the placebo. The significant decline in pain measurement at 1 month in both groups is considered a large placebo effect. This article is extremely relevant to the research question as it provides support for the inefficiency or insufficiency of CoQ10 supplements at treating statin-induced myalgia. The scientific evidence in this article clearly supports the uselessness of this nutritional supplement. However, there are a few limitations of this study. Firstly, it is presumed that the muscle pain is due to statin medications. There could be other possible reasons for the causality of patients’ myalgias, which are not explored in this study. Secondly, the diet of the participants was not controlled for. The differences in individual food consumption might affect CoQ10 levels. Thirdly, it is possible that the duration of this study was not long enough and the sample size was not large enough. However, being a fairly recent study it is highly valuable for guiding future
The study includes 76 patients who are currently receiving statin therapy and are experiencing myalgias in two or more extremities. They are randomly placed in either a placebo condition or a CoQ10 supplementation condition for three months. Pain questionnaires and visual analog scale (VAS) for assessment of pain intensity are completed at baseline and at monthly visits. The patient’s experience no comparable benefits by taking CoQ10 supplements twice daily. At 1 month, scores in both conditions drop but are not significantly different from each other. The results demonstrate that CoQ10 is not more effective in treating presumed statin-induced myalgias than the placebo. The significant decline in pain measurement at 1 month in both groups is considered a large placebo effect. This article is extremely relevant to the research question as it provides support for the inefficiency or insufficiency of CoQ10 supplements at treating statin-induced myalgia. The scientific evidence in this article clearly supports the uselessness of this nutritional supplement. However, there are a few limitations of this study. Firstly, it is presumed that the muscle pain is due to statin medications. There could be other possible reasons for the causality of patients’ myalgias, which are not explored in this study. Secondly, the diet of the participants was not controlled for. The differences in individual food consumption might affect CoQ10 levels. Thirdly, it is possible that the duration of this study was not long enough and the sample size was not large enough. However, being a fairly recent study it is highly valuable for guiding future