Association of statins with mortality in type 2 diabetes patients with intensive glycemic therapy

Intensive glycemic therapy could lead to increased mortality in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). But it remains unclear whether statins use improves prognosis in T2DM patients with intensive glycemic therapy.

Using data from Action to Control Cardiovascular Risk in Diabetes trial and performing propensity score matching and Cox proportional hazards regression, we explored the relationship between statin use and the risk of mortality in intensive-therapy group.

In the intensive-therapy group, total mortality (TM) in patients with statins treatment is lower than those without statins (hazard ratio (HR), 0.68; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.49-0.95; P = 0.022); the effects of statins on cardiovascular mortality (CM) and primary outcomes (PO), however, were negligible (CM: HR 0.96; 95% CI 0.61-1.51; P = 0.854; PO: HR 0.88; 95% CI 0.65-1.19; P = 0.415). Besides, the risk of TM, CM and PO in patients with the intensive therapy combined with statins use was similar to those in the standard group (TM: P = 0.445; CM: P = 0.362; PO: P = 0.637).

Statins may alleviate the risk of TM in T2DM patients receiving intensive glycemic therapy.