The cardiovascular and mortality benefits of statins offset the risk of diabetes, according to research published in the August 11 Lancet. Statins were associated with a 28% increased risk of diabetes among patients with one or more risk factors for diabetes, but with no increased risk of diabetes for patients with no major diabetes risk factors.
Among patients with one or more risk factors for diabetes, statins reduced the risk of myocardial infarction, stroke, unstable angina, or cardiovascular death by 39%. Statins reduced the risk of these outcomes by 52% for patients with no major diabetes risk factors. For patients with one or more diabetes risk factors, statins reduced venous thromboembolism by 36% and total mortality by 17%. For patients without diabetes risk factors, statins reduced venous thromboembolism by 53% and total mortality by 22%.
Paul M. Ridker, MD, Senior Physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, and colleagues analyzed data from the JUPITER trial, which randomly assigned 17,603 men and women without previous cardiovascular disease or diabetes to 20 mg of rosuvastatin or placebo. Patients were followed up for as many as five years. For their analysis, the researchers categorized patients as having none or at least one of four major risk factors for diabetes (ie, metabolic syndrome, impaired fasting glucose, BMI of 30 or higher, and glycated hemoglobin A1c greater than 6%).
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