[Another indicator of correlation between cholesterol and type 2 diabetes mellitus]

Recently a Dutch research group published an analysis of the Dutch screening programme for familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) in JAMA. They showed that the prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2) was lower among persons with a mutation causing FH than in their unaffected relatives. FH patients who were carriers of mutations without residual LDL receptor function had DM2 less often than those with residual LDL receptor function. Although it is tempting to speculate about a causal relationship between cholesterol transport and DM2, another explanation could be the healthier lifestyle of patients with FH. This study should not change clinical practice and should certainly not lead to discontinuation of statin therapy.