Statins Lower Risk of Cardiovascular Death in Type 2 Diabetes Patients

A new study says that statins, used to lower cholesterol levels, may also work for people with diabetic cardiovascular disease.

In Type 2 diabetes patients, heart diseases and stroke are known to be the leading causes of death and disability. According to the American Heart Association, approximately 65 percent of these people die from some form of heart diseases or stroke.

In the new finding, researchers from the Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center suggest that statins might reduce cardiovascular deaths in type 2 diabetics.  In this chronic condition, blood sugar level becomes very high.

"Although our study was not a clinical trial, it did show that people with diabetes and heart disease can still live quite a few years by taking statins," said Don Bowden, Ph.D., professor of biochemistry at Wake Forest Baptist and lead author of the study.

The researchers looked at data of 371 patients who had participated in the Diabetes Heart Study. Before the study the participants received a CT scan to determine the levels of coronary artery calcium (CAC).

If the CAC score is more than 1000, it clearly indicates an increased risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD).

The baseline characteristics of 153 patients who died during an average 8.2 years follow up period were compared with the 218 who survived.  They assumed the risk for mortality would be much higher among these participants.  However, 60 percent of them continued for more than eight years.

Statin usage at the baseline exam was the only modifiable risk factor that offered protection against mortality. Those taking statins at the start of the study had 50 percent increased chance of surviving.

Bowden said, "This highlights the importance of widespread prescription of cholesterol-lowering medications among individuals with Type 2 diabetes who have existing high CVD risk, but added that in previous studies the rates of statins prescribed for diabetic patients have been low. These data suggest that cholesterol-lowering medications may be used less than recommended and need to be more aggressively targeted as a critical modifiable risk factor."

The finding was documented in Diabetes Care.