Purpose of review: Today, statins are the first choice to lower LDL cholesterol and concomitantly the risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. There is a significant minority of statin-treated patients who are more susceptible to occasionally serious side effects that may increase morbidity and lead to compliance problems or the discontinuation of therapy. This review addresses the question of whether genetics can provide meaningful insights into the risk of statin side effects or therapy success.
Recent findings: The use of genome-wide association studies has significantly reduced the number of predictive genetic markers for statin effects, and the isolated effect of the surviving markers is low; more promising are approaches to stratify patients with genetic risk scores. Patients reveal a pronounced individual response to the administration of statins. The idea of being able to adequately describe this variability with single genetic markers has failed, genetic risk scores will be the method of choice.
Keywords: Diabetes; Genetic risk score; Lipoprotein; Pharmacogenetics; Statin; Statin-associated muscle syndromes.