Study finds anti-cholesterol drugs may reduce risk of death in diabetes patients

Statins, which help treat high cholesterol, may significantly reduce risk of death and major cardiovascular events in adults with type 2 diabetes, including among those considered at low cardiovascular risk, according to a study.

The findings published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine challenge a long-standing uncertainty about whether patients at the lowest risk benefit from preventive statin therapy, and suggest that the drugs may have a broader protective value than previously assumed, researchers said.

Statins are primarily prescribed for patients with high levels of 'bad' cholesterol.

The team, including researchers from the University of Hong Kong, analysed data of people in the UK with type 2 diabetes aged 25 to 84 and were followed for up to 10 years. None of them had serious heart or liver problems before the study began.

Individuals who began taking statins were compared to those who did not, across varied levels of participants' predicted risk of heart disease.

''Statin use in T2DM (type 2 diabetes) for primary prevention was associated with reductions in all-cause mortality and major CVD (cardiovascular disease) across the full spectrum of predicted cardiovascular risk,'' the authors wrote.

Statins were found to lower the chances of dying from any cause and reduced the risk of major cardiac events for all patients, even those considered at low risk, they said.

They added that the data suggests clinicians should consider the benefits of using statins in all adults with type 2 diabetes even when short-term predicted cardiovascular disease risk is low.

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