Statins increase the risk of diabetes by 48%

This study was published in the Archives of Internal Medicine 2012 Jan 10

Study title and authors:

Statin Use and Risk of Diabetes Mellitus in Postmenopausal Women in the Women's Health Initiative.

Culver AL, Ockene IS, Balasubramanian R, Olendzki BC, Sepavich DM, Wactawski-Wende J, Manson JE

Department of Medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester;

This study can be accessed at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22231607

This study investigated whether the incidence of diabetes is associated with statin use among postmenopausal women. The trial included 161,808 postmenopausal women aged 50 to 79 who were followed for 3 years which amounted to 1,004,466 person years of follow up.

The study found that statin use was associated with a 48% increase in diabetes.