Do statins increase the risk of diabetes or is it guilt by association?

The aim of this review is to critically examine the relevant literature and ascertain whether the current evidence supports the validity of claims that statins increase the risk of diabetes.

In the past several years, a large number of studies and several meta-analyses based on these reports have suggested a significantly increased risk of type 2 diabetes associated with statin use, ranging from 6 to 48%.

Close examination and deconstruction of these reports reveal numerous flaws in the designs of the studies, insufficient or missing data, and misdirected or spinned assumptions that render the conclusions as highly inaccurate and misleading. These reports have contributed to significant concern among healthcare providers and patients who are taking statins or are candidates for statin therapy. This review shows that the discovery and diagnosis of diabetes during statin therapy are limited to patients with multiple pre-existing diabetogenic risk factors, including sedentary lifestyle, diabetogenic and obesogenic diet, abdominal obesity, metabolic syndrome, hypertension, family history of diabetes, dysglycemia, prediabetes, and unrecognized diabetes. Diabetes diagnosed during the course of statin therapy is not statin-induced, but is discovered in individuals with pre-existing diabetogenic risk factors, who would have developed diabetes, with or without statin therapy.