Statin Use and Risk of Diabetes Mellitus in Postmenopausal Women

Archives of Intern Medicine January 23, 2012; Vol. 172; No. 2; pp. 144-152 Annie L. Culver, Ira S. Ockene, Raji Balasubramanian, Barbara C. Olendzki, Deidre M. Sepavich, Jean Wactawski-Wende, JoAnn E. Manson, and 9 more FROM ABSTRACT Background: This study investigates whether the incidence of new-onset diabetes mellitus (DM) is associated with statin use among postmenopausal women. Statin use was captured at enrollment and year 3. Incident DM status was determined annually from enrollment. This investigation included 153,840 women without DM at baseline, and more than 1,004,466 person-years of follow-up. Statin use at baseline was associated with an increased risk of DM (hazard ratio) by 71% [in 3 years]. This association remained after adjusting for other potential confounders and was observed for all types of statin medications. Conclusions: Statin medication use in postmenopausal women is associated with an increased risk for DM. KEY POINTS FROM THESE AUTHORS: 1) The use of statin drugs is progressively increasing, especially among older Americans. 2) Statin use at baseline was significantly associated with an increased DM risk (hazard ratios) by 71% when compared with nonuse. This association was observed for all types of statin. Similar risk associations were found in use of either high- or low potency statins compared with nonusers. 3) Statin use was consistently associated with increased risk of DM across subgroups by age. We observed significantly increased risk of DM by statin use within subgroups of white, Hispanic, and Asian women in both unadjusted and adjusted models. 4) Assessed covariates included demographic and health history information, including race/ethnicity, age, educational attainment, family history of DM, family history of depression, self-report of CVD, hormone therapy use, smoking status, BMI, physical activity, blood pressure, alcohol intake, and energy intake.