Intensive Statin Therapy Confers Increased Risk of Diabetes

US Pharm. 2011;36(7):12.

Glasgow, UK — A recent meta-analysis conducted at the University of Glasgow suggests that intensive-dose (ID) statin therapy is associated with a greater risk of new-onset diabetes compared with moderate-dose (MD) therapy. The meta-analysis, which included published and unpublished data from five relevant clinical trials, involved 32,752 subjects without diabetes (roughly half receiving ID therapy and the rest receiving MD therapy) followed for a mean of nearly 5 years. During follow-up, 8.4% of subjects developed diabetes. There were 149 more cases of incident diabetes in ID subjects than in MD subjects. The investigators concluded that clinicians “should be vigilant for the development of diabetes in patients receiving intensive statin therapy.”