The detailed analysis of
health records and other data from patients in a private insurance plan in the Midwest provides a real-world picture of how efforts to reduce
heart disease may be contributing to another major medical concern, said Victoria Zigmont, who led the study as a graduate student in public health at The Ohio State University.
Statins are a class of drugs that can lower cholesterol and
blood pressure, reducing the risk of heart attack and stroke. More than a quarter of middle-aged adults use a cholesterol-lowering drug, according to recent federal estimates.
Researchers found that statin users had more than double the risk of a
diabetes diagnosis compared to those who didn't take the drugs. Those who took the cholesterol-lowering drugs for more than two years had more than three times the risk of diabetes.
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In 1996, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Lipitor for the purpose of lowering cholesterol. Following its release,
researchers found that more people who are on statin therapy are diagnosed with type 2 diabetes compared to people who are not on statin therapy.
Does Lipitor Increase My Risk for Diabetes?
WEDNESDAY, March 4, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- Cholesterol-lowering statin drugs may significantly increase a person's risk of developing type 2 diabetes, a new study from Finland suggests.
Researchers found that statins were associated with an almost 50 percent higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes, even after adjusting for other factors.
Statins appear to increase the risk of type 2 diabetes in several ways, the researchers said. One is that the drugs can increase a person's insulin resistance, and the other is that the cholesterol-lowering drugs seem to impair the ability of the pancreas to secrete insulin, according to the report.
Statins Linked to Raised Risk of Type 2 Diabetes
One of the world's most widely used drugs, statins have been hailed by the medical community for their ability to prevent
heart disease.
Still, the researchers, who have published their findings in the journal
Diabetes, were confused as to why
diabetes was linked to statin use.
"Recently, an increased risk of diabetes has been added to the warning label for statin use," says lead author Jonathan Schertzer, assistant professor of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences, and Canadian Diabetes Association Scholar.
"This was perplexing to us," he continues, "because if you are improving your metabolic profile with statins you should actually be decreasing the incidence of diabetes with these drugs, yet, the opposite happened."
Study uncovers why statins increase diabetes risk and offers solution