Increased risk of diabetes with statins, study revealed

Statin use was associated with a significantly higher risk of new-onset diabetes, even in a very healthy population, according to the study reported online on April 28, 2015, in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.

"In our study, statin use was associated with a significantly higher risk of new-onset diabetes, even in a very healthy population," says lead author Dr. Ishak Mansi. "The risk of diabetes with statins has been known, but up until now it was thought that this might be due to the fact that people who were prescribed statins had greater medical risks to begin with."

Mansi is a physician-researcher with the VA North Texas Health System and the University of Texas Southwestern in Dallas.

Among 3,351 pairs of similar patients, part of the overall study group, those patients on statins were 250 percent more likely than their non-statin-using counterparts to develop diabetes with complications. Even statin users were also 14 percent more likely to become overweight or obese after being on the drugs. The study also found that the higher the dose of any of the statins, the greater the risk of diabetes, diabetes complications, and obesity.

"No patient should stop taking their statins based on our study, since statin therapy is a cornerstone in treatment of cardiovascular diseases and has been clearly shown to lower mortality and disease progression," he says. "Rather, this study should alert researchers, [clinical] guideline writers, and policymakers that short-term clinical trials might not fully describe the risks and benefits of long-term statin use for primary prevention."

By Lizitha