Health
Patients with type 2 diabetes may benefit from statins
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Sept. 6, 2004
People who have type 2 diabetes may reduce their risk of cardiovascular events by taking statins, even if they do not have high cholesterol, according to a paper published in the Aug. 21 issue of The Lancet.
In a randomized study of 2,800 patients with type 2 diabetes, researchers in the United Kingdom gave participants either a placebo or 10 mg of atorvastatin daily. All had normal cholesterol levels and no history of heart disease at the start of the trial.
After nearly four years, the risk of death from heart disease was 27% lower among patients who received the drug. The number of strokes was reduced by 48%. The paper's authors suggested that there should no longer be any hesitation about prescribing a statin to this patient group, although an accompanying commentary expressed caution.
"It is still prudent to assess an individual's risk-benefit ratio before recommending long-term statin therapy," wrote Abhimanyu Garg, MD, chief of the division of nutrition and metabolic diseases at the University of Texas Southwestern in Dallas.
The American College of Physicians recommended in April that those with diabetes and one other heart disease risk factor should be prescribed a statin.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2004/09/06/hlbf0906.htm.
