Background Statins are lipid-lowering drugs that are used widely around the world to treat and prevent cardiovascular diseases. Rare, but potentially fatal, cases of rhabdomyolysis(RM) have linked to the use of statins,especially in the presence of other risk factors. Methods We retrospectively analyzed the causes, clinical characteristics, treatments and prognosis of RM patients who were hospitalized between January 2005 and March2016 at the Guangdong General Hospital, China. A total of 16 patients were included in the study(12 males and four females, mean age 60.69 years). Amongst the patients, there were three cases of coronary heart disease, eight cases of dilated cardiomyopathy, six cases of atrial fibrillation, one case of pulmonary embolism, one case of aortic dissection, six cases of hypertension and one case of paroxysmal ventricular tachycardia. All patients had some degree of liver and kidney dysfunction, with low hemoglobin and myoglobinuria. Seven patients had a fever and four had relevant neurological signs. All patients had digestive disorders and muscle weakness or pain during their stay in hospital. All patients received renal replacement therapy and 13 were placed on a ventilator to support breathing. Nine patients were eventually improved but seven patients died despite treatment. Results All sixteen cases of RM were associated with lipid-lowering drugs, with 14 patients taking statins and two patients taking fibrates. Conclusions Statins were the main cause of RM in patients with poor prognosis and high mortality rate. Background Statins are lipid-lowering drugs that are used widely around the world to treat and prevent cardiovascular diseases. Rare, but potentially fatal, cases of rhabdomyolysis (RM) have linked to the use of statins, especially in the presence of other risk factors. Methods We retrospectively analyzed the causes, clinical characteristics, treatments and prognosis of RM patients who were hospitalized between January 2005 and March 2016 at the Guangdong General Hospital, China. A total of 16 patients were included in the study (12 males and four females, mean age 60.69 years). Amongst the patients, there were three cases of coronary heart disease, eight cases of dilated cardiomyopathy, six cases of atrial fibrillation, one case of pulmonary embolism, one case of aortic dissection, six cases of hypertension and one case of All patients had some degree of liver and kidney dysfunction, with low hemoglobin and myoglobinuria. Seven patients had a fever and All patients had digestive disorders and muscle weakness or pain during their stay in hospital. All patients received renal replacement therapy and 13 were placed on a ventilator to support breathing. Nine patients were eventually improved but seven patients died despite treatment Results All sixteen cases of RM were associated with lipid-lowering drugs, with 14 patients taking statins and two patients taking fibrates. Conclusions Statins were the main cause of RM in patients with poor prognosis and high mortality rate.