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Do statins increase the risk of diabetes?

Do statins increase the risk of diabetes?

Studies have suggested that statins may increase the risk of diabetes in the elderly, women, and Asians. A new study reviews data from the 162,000 postmenopausal women enrolled in the Women's Health Initiative to investigate whether the incidence of new onset diabetes mellitus (DM) is associated with statin use among these women. This study reviewed records from women who were enrolled between 1993 and 1998 through 2005. More than 7% of the women in the study reported taking statins. Statin use at baseline was associated with an increased risk of DM (hazard ratio, 1.71; 95% confidence interval, 1.61-1.81). This association remained after adjusting for other potential confounders, including obesity, and was observed for all types of statin medications. The authors conclude that statin medication use in postmenopausal woman is associated with an increased risk for DM and that this may be a medication class effect (Arch Intern Med 2012;172:144-152). As pointed out in a brief comment in the same issue, observational data are potentially susceptible to "bias (confounding) by indication." In other words, women who would be prescribed statins may be inherently at risk for DM. This study did a good job of evaluating women with and without a history of cardiovascular disease and found that there was still an increased risk of DM. This finding "may have important implications for the balance of risk and benefit of statins in the setting of primary prevention in which previous meta-analyses show no benefit on all-cause mortality." The FDA has issued a new warning about statins and the risk of diabetes (see FDA actions).