Statins x DM

• Cardiology Patient Page

Statins and Risk of New-Onset Diabetes Mellitus

1. Ravi V. Shah, MD; 
2. Allison B. Goldfine, MD

+Author Affiliations

1. From the Cardiology Division, Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA (R.V.S.); and Joslin Diabetes Center and Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA (A.B.G.).

1. Correspondence to Allison B. Goldfine, MD, Harvard Medical School, Joslin Diabetes Center, One Joslin Place, Joslin Diabetes Center, Boston, MA 02215. E-mail allison.goldfine@joslin.harvard.edu

For any prescription drug, the potential benefits to health must be balanced against potential risks. Understanding these potential risks can help physicians and patients make informed decisions on whether to use a medication. Recently, statins, a class of medications prescribed to treat high cholesterol levels, have been found to modestly increase the risk of developing diabetes mellitus. It is clear that statins can prevent future major cardiovascular events, such as heart attack, stroke, and deaths from cardiovascular causes, in patients who have had a previous heart attack or those with multiple cardiovascular risk factors. However, the associations between diabetes mellitus and statin use have raised concerns over the widespread use of statin medications in patients at lower risk for cardiovascular disease. In this Patient Page, we describe the indications for statin therapy, the most common adverse effects, and recent concerns about new-onset diabetes mellitus to help patients and providers make more informed decisions about the use of this important class of medications in at-risk individuals.

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