Are statins beneficial for CVD prevention in diabetics across all age groups?

Korea: According to a recent study in the journal Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice, statin use is protective against cardiovascular disease (CVD) and all-cause mortality in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D). The protective effect, however, was reduced after the age of 75 years and disappeared in young patients <40 years. 

People with type 2 diabetes are at increased risk of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality compared to those without diabetes. Statin is used for the prevention of coronary heart disease (CHD) in patients without a history of CVD (primary prevention) and those at very high risk of developing CVD including patients with diabetes, genetic familial hyperlipidemia. 

You-Cheol Hwang, Kyung Hee University School of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea, and colleagues in a propensity score-matched cohort analysis addressed the question of whether statin use is associated with a reduction in CVD and mortality in patients with T2D without pre-existing CVD. 

For achieving their objective the researchers created a propensity score-matched cohort analysis using retrospective data. Statin users received at least a 90-day prescription and never used statin before initiation of the study. Statin non-users never received statin throughout the study.