Statin use associated with a 27% increased risk of diabetes in heart attack and angina patients

This study was published in the Canadian Journal of Diabetes 2016 Mar 15. pii: S1499-2671(15)30026-5

Study title and authors:
Statin Use and the Risk for Incident Diabetes Mellitus in Patients with Acute Coronary Syndrome after Percutaneous Coronary Intervention: A Population-Based Retrospective Cohort Study in Taiwan.

Lin ZF, Wang CY, Shen LJ, Hsiao FY, Lin Wu FL.
School of Pharmacy, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan;

This study can be accessed at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26992286

Acute coronary syndrome is a term given to various heart conditions, including a heart attack and unstable angina. These conditions are due to there being a reduced amount of blood flowing to a part of the heart.

Percutaneous coronary intervention, or coronary angioplasty is a procedure to unblock a coronary artery.

The purpose of the study was to examine the association between statin use and the risk for diabetes in patients with acute coronary syndrome following percutaneous coronary intervention. The study include 9,043 statin users and 9,043 non-statin users.

The study found:
(a) Statin use was associated with a significant increase of 27% in the risk for new-onset diabetes compared to non-statin use.
(b) Almost all types of statins were associated with a statistically significant increase in the risk for new-onset diabetes compared to those without statin use.

Lin concluded: "Our study indicated an association between increased risk for new-onset diabetes mellitus and statin use."

Links to other studies: 
Atorvastatin associated with an increased death rate in diabetic patients
Statins increase the risk of diabetes by 48%
Statin use is associated with accelerated artery calcification in type two diabetes