A literature search of MEDLINE, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (January 1, 1996, through March 31, 2011) was performed to investigate whether intensive-dose statin therapy is associated with increased risk of new-onset diabetes compared with moderate-dose statin therapy. Randomized controlled end-point trials were included that compared intensive-dose statin therapy with moderate-dose statin therapy and included more than 1000 participants who were followed up for more than one year. In a pooled analysis of data from five statin trials with 32 752 participants without diabetes at baseline, 2749 developed diabetes (1449 assigned intensive-dose therapy, 1300 assigned moderate-dose therapy, representing 2.0 additional cases in the intensive-dose group per 1000 patient-years) and 6684 experienced cardiovascular events (3134 and 3550, respectively, representing 6.5 fewer cases in the intensive-dose group per 1000 patient-years) over a mean of 4.9 years. Odds ratios were 1.12 (95% CI, 1.04-1.22) for new-onset diabetes and 0.84 (95% CI, 0.75-0.94) for cardiovascular events for participants receiving intensive therapy compared with moderate-dose therapy. The authors concluded that intensive-dose statin therapy was associated with an increased risk of new-onset diabetes compared with moderate-dose statin therapy. JAMA. 2011 Jun 22;305(24):2556-64. PMID: 21693744.
