Statins increase likelihood of diabetes and obesity

Abstract

Statins increase likelihood of diabetes and obesityUse of statins is associated with an increased likelihood of healthy adults being diagnosed with newonset diabetes mellitus, having diabetic complications, and being overweight or having obesity, according to the results of a retrospective cohort study conducted in the US. 1 From the US military's Tricare programme in San Antonio, Texas, a total of 25 970 eligible healthy adults aged 30-85 years were identified, of whom 3982 were classed as statin users * and 21 988 were statin nonusers. Of these subjects, 3351 statin users and 3351 statin nonusers were propensity score-matched for the primary analysis.After a follow-up period of approximately 6.5 years, statin users were shown to have a higher odds ratio (OR) for new-onset diabetes mellitus (OR 1.87; 95% CI 1.67, 2.01), diabetic complications (2.50; 95% CI 1.88, 3.32) and overweight/obesity (1.14; 95% CI 1.04, 1.25). Furthermore, the researchers noted that high-intensity statin therapy was associated with the highest risk of new-onset diabetes, diabetic complications, and overweight/obesity (adjusted ORs of 2.55, 3.68 and 1.58, respectively), thereby demonstrating a doseresponse relationship.The researchers highlighted that their findings would need to be confirmed by other studies, as "extrapolating information from carefully selected patients in shortterm randomized controlled studies to decades of statin use for primary prevention might not be appropriate".Drs Giacomo Gastaldi and Jacques Philippe from Geneva University Hospital in Switzerland agreed with the researchers' above-mentioned comments, and stated that "physicians should not alter their current practices based on this study, as the benefit of statin treatment on cardiovascular events has been rigorously demonstrated in multiple prospective intervention studies in diabetic patients over the last 20 years". 2 * Statins users were defined as subjects who filled a statin prescription for ≥90 days between 1 October 2004 and 30 September 2005. Overall, 77% of statin prescriptions were for simvastatin, 19% for atorvastatin, 3% for pravastatin, and 1% for rosuvastatin.