Statin users have lower risk of developing diabetic complications, study suggests

Blood vessels in the choroid of the eye

People with diabetes have an increased risk of developing microvascular complications but the impact of prior statin use on these complications is unclear.

To investigate, Børge Nordestgaard, from Copenhagen University Hospital, matched 15,679 people who had used statins regularly until they were diagnosed with diabetes with 47,037 people who had never used statins before diagnosis.

Compared with non-users, statin users had significantly lower risks of developing diabetic retinopathy, diabetic neuropathy and gangrene of the foot, with hazard ratios of 0.60, 0.66 and 0.88, respectively.

“Whether statins are protective against some forms of microvascular disease — a possibility raised by these data — will need to be addressed in other studies,” the authors conclude in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology (10 September 2014)[1]
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References

 [1] Nielsen SF & Nordestgaard BG. Statin use before diabetes diagnosis and risk of microvascular disease: a nationwide nested matched study. The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology. 2014. doi: 10.1016/S2213-8587(14)70173-1 (accessed 16 September 2014)

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Citation
The Pharmaceutical Journal, PJ, 20 September 2014, Vol 293, No 7828;293(7828):DOI:10.1211/PJ.2014.20066490

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