Statins have been used as cholesterol-lowering drugs to prevent heart attacks and strokes although trials of statins have produced conflicting results.
A new report based on a meta-analysis of 13 randomised controlled trials of statins between 1994 and 2009 involving 91,000 patients showed that there was a clear link between statin treatment and a small but significant increased risk of diabetes - 9% increase over 4 years in those using the drug than those without the treatment. The researchers said that the risk is very low and outweighed by the benefits of this drug and concluded that patients with moderate or high cardiovascular risk should not stop taking this drug.
Critics say this is a well-conducted review, when all the results were combined into a meta-analysis, the diabetes risk was relatively small, however various unidentified cofounding factors may have affected the observed results. The study was published in The Lancet online.
Source: "Statins and risk of incident diabetes: a collaborative meta-analysis of randomised statin trials". The Lancet, Early Online Publication, 17 February 2010
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