Statins for all adults with diabetes
Jan 11, 2008
One-third fewer people with type 1 or type 2 diabetes would suffer heart attacks or strokes if they took cholesterol-lowering statin drugs, a U.K. study suggests.
Cardiovascular disease eventually kills two-thirds of people with diabetes, FFPH, FRCP. Statin drugs - sold in the U.S. as Crestor, Lescol XL, Lipitor, Mevacor, Pravachol, and Zocor - lower LDL cholesterol. In people without diabetes, the drugs cut the risk of heart attack, stroke, and other cardiovascular diseases. But it hasn't been clear whether people with diabetes get as much benefit.
The result: People with diabetes, whether they are male or female, get just as much benefit from statins as anyone else. If 1,000 people with diabetes took statins for five years, 42 of them would avoid heart death, heart attack, or coronary revascularization (bypass or stenting.
"We are saying that, after middle age, most everybody with diabetes is a candidate for statin treatment - and at a large enough dose to give them a substantial reduction in LDL cholesterol”.
"If you are crossing the street, you can choose to wear a helmet because it may save your life in case you are knocked by a car. You are relatively safer, although the absolute risk of this is quite low”. "But if you are riding a motorcycle, the helmet is going to be important because your risk of an accident is much greater".
"It was once believed that the mere fact of having diabetes gives a person the same risk of heart attack as a person who had a heart attack before”. We are now treating people's diabetes much better than before, and their baseline risk of heart disease is lower than before”.
Cheung says everyone with diabetes should discuss cholesterol-lowering therapy with their doctors, but he does not think doctors should always recommend drug therapy.
"Even if a person has a 1% per year risk of a major cardiovascular event, there is still a benefit from statins". So for people whose risk increases over time - and after middle age, that is most everybody with diabetes - there is no point in not treating them with statins”.
Source: webmd.com
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