Doctors typically prescribe statin drugs for lowering the cholesterol levels of their patients. Findings of a new study from Finland, however, have shown that the drug can significantly increase a person's odds of developing Type 2 diabetes.
For the new study published in Diabetologia on March 4, researchers have found that the cholesterol-lowering drug was linked with nearly 50 percent increased risk of developing Type 2 diabetes.
For the study, Markku Laakso, from the University of Eastern Finland, and colleagues followed nearly 9,000 men who were not diagnosed with diabetes for a period of six years to track the effects of statin treatment. The participants were between 45 and 73 years old and one in four of them was taking statin at the start of the study.
Over a period of six years, 625 of the men were diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes even after accounting for other risk factors. The researchers found that the men who took statin treatment had 46 percent higher chances of developing diabetes than their counterparts who were not treated with the drug.
The researchers reported that the risks of developing diabetes increased with dosage taken from the drugs atorvastatin (Lipitor) and simvastatin (Zocor). Taking high doses of simvastatin was linked with 44 increased odds of developing diabetes while taking simvastatin in low dosage increased the risks by 28 percent. High dose atorvastatin, on the other hand, was tied to a 37 increased risks of diabetes.
The researchers also found that statins appeared to make people secrete less insulin and become resistant to the insulin's effects. They found that statin is associated with 24 percent reduced sensitivity to insulin and 12 percent reduced insulin secretion. They also found that the higher dose of statin drugs and the longer the patients took them, the higher their risks for diabetes.
Earlier studies already suggested that statins can increase levels of blood sugar and the risk of diabetes between 10 percent to 20 percent. Al Powers, from the Vanderbilt University Medical Center, said that based on the study's results, doctors need to weigh the risks and benefits of prescribing statins to their patients. Those with prediabetes, for instance, are of particular concern.
Alasdair Rankin, from Diabetes UK, on the other hand, said that while statins may increase risks of diabetes, their benefit may still outweigh the risks in certain individuals.
"We know statins slightly increase the risk of Type 2 diabetes, but this is greatly outweighed by their overall benefits for people at risk of heart disease," Rankin said.
Photo: Oskar Annermarken | Flickr
