Statin Therapy Linked to Increase in Adult Onset Diabetes

Washington, DC: A meta-analysis published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in June 2011, indicates that taking statin drugs is associated with an increased risk for developing diabetes. Statins are among the most widely prescribed drugs used in the management of high cholesterol: they work to lower cholesterol levels.

The meta-analysis looked at data from 32,000 study participants in five separate clinical trials, and found that the higher the dosage of the statin drug being taken the greater the risk for diabetes. The risk for diabetes associated with statins seems to come from elevated insulin levels produced by the drug, and other scientific studies have found similar results, with increases in fasting glucose levels.

In 2010 a separate meta-analysis published in The Lancet showed statin therapy was associated with a nine percent increased risk for incident diabetes. Similarly, The Journal of Investigative Medicine published a study done in 2009 that showed that statin use was associated with a rise of fasting plasma glucose in patients with and without diabetes, independently of other factors such as age.

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Published on Jul-27-11