Statins and the Risk of Incurring Diabetes

I have discussed the benefits of statin drugs, along with their excellent safety record, at frequent intervals.  Now an international collection of analysts have done a meta-analysis of clinical trials of statin drugs to see if there is a relationship between their use and the development of diabetes.  Their findings are published online in the Lancet. 

Trials included in the analysis had to have at least 1,000 patients and duration of more than a year.  There were 13 such trials, which provided more than 91,000 patients, of whom roughly 2/3 were assigned a statin and 1/3 took a control treatment (placebo or another type of medication), for an average duration of 4 years. 

The researchers found that there was a 9% increase in the risk for developing diabetes among those receiving statins compared with the controls.  Adjustments for weight (body mass index or BMI) and changes in LDL cholesterol levels did not affect the results substantially. However, the association between statin use and diabetes was stronger with increasing age.

Put another way, this finding means that 255 patients would have to be treated with statins for 4 years to produce one additional case of diabetes. The researchers state that this small risk "is outweighed by cardiovascular benefit in the short and medium term."  One possible reason for the association could be improved survival in the patients taking statins i.e. there would be more of them extant to develop another condition. 

The risk of diabetes that’s reported here is low compared with the reduction that statins produce in coronary artery events – heart attack, severe angina, or heart failure.  It might be wise, however, for patients on statins to have a blood sugar exam every 6 months or so, especially if they are in an older age group.