High Tolerability of Pitavastatin Therapy: A Case Report of Comparison with other Statins

Abstract

Introduction: Myopathy is possibly the most clinically relevant statin-induced side effect.

Case presentation: We report a case of a 63-year-old healthy male with mixed dyslipidemia. He developed bilateral myalgia of the forearms with fluvastatin 40 mg/day, pravastatin 20 mg/day, and combination of atorvastatin 10 mg and ezetimibe 10 mg/day. The only hypolipidemic treatment that was tolerable was the combination of pitavastatin 1 mg and ezetimibe 10 mg/day.

Discussion: Pitavastatin demonstrated less potential for the development of myalgia compared to the so far considered most tolerable statins (i.e., fluvastatin and pravastatin). All the tested statins were used at the lowest approved dose for clinical use.

Conclusion: The combination of pitavastatin 1 mg and ezetimibe appears to be a promising treatment choice for individuals who are intolerant to statin therapy due to muscle complaints.

Keywords: Dyslipidemia; Myopathy; Pitavastatin; Tolerability.