Use of statins does increases risk of diabetes, but only by 9%, says report in Lancet

Statin therapy is associated with a slightly increased risk of development of diabetes, but the risk is low both in absolute terms and when compared with the reduction in coronary events, say researchers in a report published in the prestigious medical journal The Lancet. However, they add, clinical practice in patients with moderate or high cardiovascular risk or existing cardiovascular disease should not change.

The team of scientists based at Glasgow University's Cardiovascular Research Center, Scotland, said they identified 13 statin trials with 91,140 participants, of whom 4,278 (2,226 assigned statins and 2,052 assigned control treatment) developed diabetes during a mean of four years. Statin therapy was associated with a 9% increased risk for incident diabetes (odds ratio [OR] 1'09; 95% CI 1'02-1'17), with little heterogeneity (I2=11%) between trials. Meta-regression showed that risk of development of diabetes with statins was highest in trials with older participants, but neither baseline body-mass index nor change in LDL-cholesterol concentrations accounted for residual variation in risk. Treatment of 255 (95% CI 150-852) patients with statins for four years resulted in one extra case of diabetes, they concluded.

The researchers carried out the meta-analysis after a 2008 trial unexpectedly found that patients using Anglo-Swedish drug major AstraZeneca's cholesterol-lowering drug Crestor (rosuvastatin) had a 25% higher risk of diabetes.