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

Written By : Medha Baranwal |Medically Reviewed By : Dr. Kamal Kant Kohli Published On 2021-10-02T09:00:33+05:30 | Updated On 2 Oct 2021 9:29 AM IST

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.

The primary outcome was a composite of myocardial infarction (MI), stroke, and all-cause death, and the secondary outcome was an individual event.

The propensity score-matched cohort included 168,045 statin users and 168,045 non-users (mean age 57 years; median follow-up 5.0 years).

The analysis yielded the following findings:

Compared to statin non-users, the hazard ratio (HR) was 0.72 for composite outcomes, 0.80 for MI, 0.74 for stroke, and 0.68 for all-cause death in statin users.
The risk reduction was most prominent in subjects aged 40–74 years, attenuated but significant in those aged ≥75 years, and not significant in those aged <40 years.

Based on the findings, the researchers concluded, statin showed a protective effect against CVD and all-cause death in type 2 diabetes; this effect was reduced beyond the age of 75 years and disappeared in young patients aged <40 years.

Reference:

The study titled, "Statin use for primary prevention in patients with type 2 diabetes: Can it benefit all ages? – A nationwide propensity-matched cohort study," is published in the journal Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice.

DOI: https://www.diabetesresearchclinicalpractice.com/article/S0168-8227(21)00403-4/fulltext

Diabetes Research and Clinical Practicetype 2 diabetesCVDstatin

Source : Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice

Medha Baranwal

MSc. Biotechnology

Medha Baranwal joined Medical Dialogues as an Editor in 2018 for Speciality Medical Dialogues. She covers several medical specialties including Cardiac Sciences, Dentistry, Diabetes and Endo, Diagnostics, ENT, Gastroenterology, Neurosciences, and Radiology. She has completed her Bachelors in Biomedical Sciences from DU and then pursued Masters in Biotechnology from Amity University. She has a working experience of 5 years in the field of medical research writing, scientific writing, content writing, and content management. She can be contacted at editorial@medicaldialogues.in. Contact no. 011-43720751

Dr. Kamal Kant Kohli

Dr Kamal Kant Kohli-MBBS, DTCD- a chest specialist with more than 30 years of practice and a flair for writing clinical articles, Dr Kamal Kant Kohli joined Medical Dialogues as a Chief Editor of Medical News. Besides writing articles, as an editor, he proofreads and verifies all the medical content published on Medical Dialogues including those coming from journals, studies,medical conferences,guidelines etc. Email: drkohli@medicaldialogues.in. Contact no. 011-43720751