Statins and newly diagnosed diabetes

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Abstract
Aims In order to evaluate a hypothesized protective effect of the use of HMG Co‐A reductase inhibitors (statins) on the development of Type 2 diabetes, we conducted a nested case–control study based on data from the UK‐based General Practice Research Database (GPRD). Methods We identified a population of adults 30–79 years of age between 1 January 1991 and 31 March 2002, who were being treated with a statin or who were diagnosed with hyperlipidaemia but were not being treated with a lipid‐lowering drug. From this population we identified all incident cases of Type 2 diabetes. We conducted a nested case–control study encompassing 588 cases and 2063 matched controls. Findings We observed an adjusted odds ratio (OR) of 1.1 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.8, 1.4] for current statin users compared with non‐exposed subjects and adjusted ORs for pravastatin use alone and simvastatin use alone compared with non‐exposed of 0.7 (95% CI 0.4, 1.2) and 1.0 (95% CI 0.7, 1.3), respectively. There was little evidence for a duration effect for simvastatin in these data, though there is a slight suggestion of a long‐term protective effect with pravastatin. Conclusion The current study results are most consistent with the conclusion that there is little if any protective effect of statins on the development of Type 2 diabetes.