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Cholesterol-lowering drugs cause the development of diabetes mellitus
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025
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Scientists claim that cholesterol-lowering drugs from the statin group can cause the development of diabetes. The problem is relevant in the world due to the widespread use of statins in the present time to prevent the occurrence of cardiovascular pathology and in patients with heart disease.
The Jupiter (Rosuvastatin Use in Cardiovascular Prevention) study involved 17,802 people with low LDL but high C-reactive protein. Compared to the placebo group, the risk of developing diabetes increased by 25 percent. Despite this, the risk of developing cardiovascular disease decreased by 44 percent. Participants subjectively noticed an improvement in their health over the next 2 years.
In other studies, six meta-analyses of over 57,000 patients also found a 13% risk of developing diabetes. In 13 randomized trials with statins on 91,140 patients, the odds of developing a diabetes diagnosis were 1.09.
Summarizing the data, it can be noted that among 255 patients taking the drug for 4 years, 1 case of diabetes mellitus may occur. At the same time, 5.4 participants out of 255 had no complications of cardiac pathology. This is most likely due to the presence of a group of people genetically prone to diabetes mellitus, taking the drug makes it possible to detect this disease. When prescribing treatment, it is necessary to take into account age, fasting sugar level, and other features of the metabolic syndrome.
On the other hand, the benefits of this group of drugs significantly outweigh the scales, such as a reduction in mortality by more than 20%, a reduction in heart attacks by 54%, strokes by 46%, and a reduction in revascularization by 48%. Therefore, with a high risk of developing heart and vascular disease, statins should be used without fail and even not stopped when diabetes is diagnosed.
Further research and data are needed on the mechanism of influence of cholesterol-lowering drugs on the causes of endocrine disease.
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