Statins for Lowering Cholesterol Linked to Increased Diabetes Risks

Lipitor, Crestor and other brands of statins taken by millions of people to lower cholesterol do not reduce the risks of diabetes and may in fact slightly increase the chances of developing the potentially fatal condition, new research has found.

Researchers poured over results from several clinical trials of the drugs used in more than 57,000 adults.

“Contrary to our expectation, we did not find any benefit of statins on diabetes risk,” lead investigator Dr. Swapnil Rajpathak told Reuters Health. “In fact, there is a suggestion that statins may be associated with increased risk — which needs to be explored further.”

Statins are a class of drugs that has long been credited with lowering high cholesterol and reducing the risks of heart attacks, strokes, and other cardiovascular complications. However, researchers have only more recently started looking at how the drugs may be associated with diabetes. More than 36 million people currently take statins to control cholesterol.

Study Finds Modest Increase in Diabetes Risks

The study concluded that 2,082 participants had developed diabetes when they were reexamined after an average follow-up time of 3.9 years. The researchers said there appears to be an increase of six to 13 percent in the chances of developing diabetes by taking statins.

Still, researchers say other factors not considered in the study may explain the modest increases in diabetes risks and that the benefits of statins on curbing heart disease “by far outweigh any detrimental effects on … diabetes risk,” Reuters reports.

“Because cardiovascular disease accounts for almost two-thirds of deaths in people with diabetes, the protective effect of statins on this major complication may suffice to support their use despite a potential risk of new-onset diabetes,” said Dr. Christie M. Ballantyne of Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas and colleagues in a commentary about the study.

The study is published in the October 2009 issue of the journal Diabetes Care.

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