High-Dose Statins May Increase Diabetes Risk
Experts Say Most Heart Disease Patients Are Better Off Taking a Statin, Despite Increased Diabetes Risk
High-dose statins were 80 mg daily doses of Zocor, which is sold generically as simvastatin, or Lipitor.
Moderate-dose regimens varied but included daily doses of 10 mg to 40 mg of simvastatin, Lipitor, or pravastatin, which is also sold as Pravachol.
After being followed for an average of nearly five years, 2,749 patients developed diabetes -- 1,449 in the high-dose group and 1,300 of those on the moderate dose.
Over that same time period, about 20%, or 6,684 study participants, suffered a major cardiovascular event -- 3,134 on the intensive-dose therapy and 3,550 who were taking moderate statin doses.
There was no difference in diabetes risk between types of statins; only dose seemed to matter.
Patients on the high-dose regimens saw their odds of diabetes rise about 12%, while their odds of having a cardiac event dropped by about 16%, compared to patients on more moderate statin doses.
“It’s a good study,” says Spyros Mezitis, MD, an endocrinologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, who was not involved in the research.
“There are more studies that need to be done to really home in on this,” he says. “But statins are being used very widely right now, so we need to know anything that happens with the statins.
“What a clinician like myself takes out of it is that for people who are on high-dose statins and haven’t been diagnosed with diabetes, we should be checking for diabetes,” he says.
Experts say they aren’t sure what the link may be between statins and diabetes.
Nissen points out that many of the lifestyle factors that lead to cardiovascular disease, like abdominal obesity and a sedentary lifestyle, also contribute to diabetes.
“Many of us think that all that’s happening here is that patients who likely are destined to develop diabetes may have that diagnosis made a little bit earlier if given statins,” he says.
Experts say, though, that they aren’t sure why statins may hasten that diagnosis.
High-Dose Statins May Increase Diabetes Risk
Experts Say Most Heart Disease Patients Are Better Off Taking a Statin, Despite Increased Diabetes Risk
High-Dose Statins and Diabetes continued...
High-dose statins were 80 mg daily doses of Zocor, which is sold generically as simvastatin, or Lipitor.
Moderate-dose regimens varied but included daily doses of 10 mg to 40 mg of simvastatin, Lipitor, or pravastatin, which is also sold as Pravachol.
After being followed for an average of nearly five years, 2,749 patients developed diabetes -- 1,449 in the high-dose group and 1,300 of those on the moderate dose.
Over that same time period, about 20%, or 6,684 study participants, suffered a major cardiovascular event -- 3,134 on the intensive-dose therapy and 3,550 who were taking moderate statin doses.
There was no difference in diabetes risk between types of statins; only dose seemed to matter.
Patients on the high-dose regimens saw their odds of diabetes rise about 12%, while their odds of having a cardiac event dropped by about 16%, compared to patients on more moderate statin doses.
“It’s a good study,” says Spyros Mezitis, MD, an endocrinologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, who was not involved in the research.
“There are more studies that need to be done to really home in on this,” he says. “But statins are being used very widely right now, so we need to know anything that happens with the statins.
“What a clinician like myself takes out of it is that for people who are on high-dose statins and haven’t been diagnosed with diabetes, we should be checking for diabetes,” he says.
Statins and Diabetes
Experts say they aren’t sure what the link may be between statins and diabetes.
Nissen points out that many of the lifestyle factors that lead to cardiovascular disease, like abdominal obesity and a sedentary lifestyle, also contribute to diabetes.
“Many of us think that all that’s happening here is that patients who likely are destined to develop diabetes may have that diagnosis made a little bit earlier if given statins,” he says.
Experts say, though, that they aren’t sure why statins may hasten that diagnosis.