Statins may raise diabetes risk

People using cholesterol-lowering statins were found to be 9 percent more likely to develop diabetes, according to researchers who said that the heart benefits outweigh risks.
 
The study in the Lancet medical journal is expected to influence the decision whether or not to take statins to prevent heart disease by those who do not have had heart disease or history of a cardiovascular event.
 
The study led Naveed Sattar of the Glasgow Cardiovascular Research Center at the University of Glasgow showed a clear association between taking statins and diabetes.  But according to the researchers, the risk is small.  The treatment of 255 patients with statins for four years would result in only one extra case of diabetes.
 
Satter and his team reviewed data from 13 large randomized controlled trials of statins between 1994 and 2009 involving about 91,000 patients.
 
The benefits outweigh the risks.  The researchers found over a period of four years, using statins resulted in one case of diabetes in a group, but also help avoid 5.4 deaths or heart attacks and the same number of strokes and artery-opening surgeries.

Early studies have determined that statins offer a very limited protection in those who have not experienced any heart disease. Some critics suggest that it is not economically worth the investment because of the limited benefits.

By Jimmy Downs and editing by Denise Reynolds