Diabetes and statins: A new study suggests cholesterol-lowering statins could substantially cut death rates and serious heart problems in adults living with type 2 diabetes, even those whose heart disease risk appears minimal.
Published in Annals of Internal Medicine, the research addresses a key question doctors have grappled with: whether patients facing the lowest cardiovascular threat gain anything from taking statins as a preventive measure. The results indicate these medications might offer wider protection than medical experts previously believed.
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Doctors typically prescribe statins to patients whose LDL cholesterol levels run high.
Researchers from the University of Hong Kong examined records of British adults between the ages of 25 and 84 who had type 2 diabetes. The study tracked participants for as long as a decade. All subjects started without existing heart conditions or liver disease.
The team compared outcomes between people who started statin treatment and those who didn’t, looking at participants across different predicted heart disease risk categories.
According to the study authors, statin use among type 2 diabetes patients for primary prevention is linked to lower death rates from all causes and fewer major cardiovascular problems, regardless of a patient’s predicted heart disease risk level.
The medications reduced both overall mortality and significant cardiac incidents across all patient groups, including individuals deemed low-risk, researchers found.
Based on these findings, the authors recommend that doctors weigh the potential advantages of prescribing statins to all adult type 2 diabetes patients, even when near-term cardiovascular disease risk calculations show low probability.
