Background: Statin use is associated with increased incidence of diabetes and possibly with increased body weight and reduced exercise capacity. Data on the long-term effects of these associations in healthy adults, however, are very limited. In addition, the relationship between these effects and diabetic complications has not been adequately studied.
Objective: To examine the association between statin use and new-onset diabetes, diabetic complications, and overweight/obesity in a cohort of healthy adults.
Research design: This was a retrospective cohort study.
Participants: Subjects were Tricare beneficiaries who were evaluated between October 1, 2003 and March 1, 2012. Patients were divided into statin users and nonusers.
Intervention: We excluded patients who, at baseline, had a preexisting disease indicative of cardiovascular diseases, any positive element of the Charlson comorbidity index (including diabetes mellitus), or life-limiting chronic diseases. Using 42 baseline characteristics, we generated a propensity score to match statin users and nonusers.
Main measures: Outcomes assessed included new-onset diabetes, diabetic complications, and overweight/obesity.
Key results: A total of 25,970 patients (3982 statin users and 21,988 nonusers) were identified as healthy adults at baseline. Of these, 3351 statins users and 3351 nonusers were propensity score-matched. Statin users had higher odds of new-onset diabetes (odds ratio [OR] 1.87; 95 % confidence interval [95 % CI] 1.67-2.01), diabetes with complications (OR 2.50; 95 % CI 1.88-3.32), and overweight/obesity (OR 1.14; 95 % CI 1.04-1.25). Secondary and sensitivity analyses demonstrated similar findings.
Conclusions: Diabetes, diabetic complications, and overweight/obesity were more commonly diagnosed among statin-users than similar nonusers in a healthy cohort of adults. This study demonstrates that short-term clinical trials might not fully describe the risk/benefit of long-term statin use for primary prevention.
Keywords: Adverse events; Diabetes; Diabetic complications; Observational study; Overweight/obesity; Primary prevention; Satins.