Heterogeneity of the benefits and risks of statins in patients at risk of developing diabetes
Pedro J Caraballo, Gyorgy Simon and M Regina Castro
Mayo Clinic, Minnesota, USA
Institute for Health Informatics, University of Minnesota, USA
: Endocrinol Diabetes Res
Abstract
The benefits of statin therapy in reducing cardiovascular risk in both diabetic and non-diabetic patients are unquestionable, and have been clearly demonstrated in multiple studies, with more than 5,00,000 patientyears of treatment. Such benefits are greatest in individuals with the highest cardiovascular risk. Recent publications have shown an association between the use of statins and the risk of developing diabetes mellitus, although the clinical relevance of this association has been debated. Furthermore, it is unclear whether statin use further accelerates progression to overt diabetes only in patients already at increased risk, e.g., patients with impaired fasting glucose. Of concern, however, is whether the well documented beneficial effect of statins in reducing cardiovascular risk is negated by an incremental increase in the risk of developing diabetes, particularly for primary prevention in patients at lower risk where the benefit is less clear. Herein, we discuss current evidence including methodological aspects of the association between the use of statins and the risk of diabetes and total mortality among norm glycemic patients and patients with impaired fasting glucose.
Biography
Pedro Caraballo is Board certified in Internal Medicine and Clinical Informatics. He is an Associate Professor of Medicine at the College of Medicine and Science, Consultant in the Division of General Internal Medicine and Medical Director of the Clinical Decision Support Program, Center for Translational Informatics and Knowledge Management at Mayo Clinic. His research interest includes the Use of Electronic Health Record Data, High-Throughput Clinical Phenotyping Algorithms and Machine Learning to identify Subpopulations of Patients at Risk to Develop Diabetes and its Complications.
E-mail: Caraballo.pedro@mayo.edu
