Statin-related
myopathy is an important adverse effect of
statin which is classically unpredictable. The evidence of association between solute carrier
organic anion transporter 1B1 (SLCO1B1) gene T521C polymorphism and
statin-related
myopathy risk remained controversial. This study aimed to investigate this genetic association. Databases of PubMed, EMBASE, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database (CBM), China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Chinese Scientific Journals Database, and Wanfang Data were searched till June 17, 2015. Case-control studies investigating the association between SLCO1B1 gene T521C polymorphism and
statin-related
myopathy risk were included. The Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS) was used for assessing the quality of included studies. Data were pooled by odds ratios (
ORs) and their 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Nine studies with 1360 cases and 3082 controls were included. Cases of
statin-related
myopathy were found to be significantly associated with the variant C allele (TC + CC vs TT: OR = 2.09, 95% CI = 1.27-3.43, P = 0.003; C vs T: OR = 2.10, 95% CI = 1.43-3.09, P < 0.001), especially when
statin-related
myopathy was defined as an elevation of
creatine kinase (CK) >10 times the upper limit of normal (ULN) or
rhabdomyolysis (TC + CC vs TT: OR = 3.83, 95% CI = 1.41-10.39, P = 0.008; C vs T: OR = 2.94, 95% CI = 1.47-5.89, P = 0.002). When stratified by
statin type, the association was significant in individuals receiving
simvastatin (TC + CC vs TT: OR = 3.09, 95% CI = 1.64-5.85, P = 0.001; C vs T: OR = 3.00, 95% CI = 1.38-6.49, P = 0.005), but not in those receiving
atorvastatin (TC + CC vs TT: OR = 1.31, 95% CI = 0.74-2.30, P = 0.35; C vs T: OR = 1.33, 95% CI = 0.57-3.12, P = 0.52). The available evidence suggests that SLCO1B1 gene T521C polymorphism is associated with an increased risk of
statin-related
myopathy, especially in individuals receiving
simvastatin. Thus, a genetic test before initiation of
statins may be meaningful for personalizing the treatment.