Statins May Raise Risk of Type 2 Diabetes
Statins May Raise Risk of Type 2 Diabetes, according to a study from Finland.
In a study conducted on white men, researchers found that statins, used to treat high cholesterol, can increase the risk of type diabetes in patients by as much as 50%. University of Eastern Finland researchers tracked the effects of statin treatment in almost 9,000 men without diabetes over the course of six years. One in four of the men was taking a statin at the beginning of the study, and over six years, 625 men developed type 2 diabetes. The risk increased with the dosage of statin drug. The drugs studied included simvastatin and atorvastatin.
A high dose of simvastatin was associated with a 44 percent increased risk of developing diabetes, while for low-dose simvastatin increased the risk by 28 percent. High-dose atorvastatin was linked to a 37 percent increased diabetes risk, the study found.
Researchers say that statins increase diabetes risk in two ways, by increasing a person’s insulin resistance, and by impairing the ability pf the pancreas to secrete insulin. They point out the need for doctors to carefully weight the risks and benfits before prescribing statins to patients.
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