Statins increase risk of diabetes in Caucasian men

the Oncology Nurse Advisor take:

According to new research published in the journal Diabetologia, researchers from Finland have found that statin use is associated with an increased risk of developing diabetes.

In the study, researchers analyzed data from 8,749 non-diabetic men in a 6-year follow-up of the population-based Metabolic Syndrome in Men (METSIM) study in Finland.

The participants ranged in age from 45 to 73 years and were followed for 5.9 years. Of those men, 625 were diagnosed with new diabetes during the follow-up period.

Results showed that after adjusting for confounding factors, patients treated with statins were 46% more likely to develop diabetes compared with those non treated with statins. In addition, researchers found that the risk was dose-dependent for atorvastatin and simvastatin.

The authors suggest that the association between statin use and increased risk for diabetes is most likely due to statins decreasing both insulin sensitivity and insulin secretion.

Although the findings are reliable, the study only included Caucasian men and therefore should not be applied to women or people of other ethnic origin without further research.