Statins, anti-inflammatory medications impact on diabetes risk
Wednesday 22nd June 2011
The risk of developing diabetes may be increased in those who have undergone an intensive-dose of statin therapy, new findings show.
An analysis of data in a University of Glasgow study revealed that intensive dose statin therapy was linked to a higher incidence of new-onset diabetes when compared to a moderate dose of the treatment.
However, statin therapy significantly reduces cardiovascular events in patients both with and without diabetes mellitus, according to the study published in journal JAMA.
Authors write: "Our findings suggest that clinicians should be vigilant for the development of diabetes in patients receiving intensive statin therapy."
In contrast, medications received for rheumatoid arthritis or psoriasis were found to lower the risk of diabetes in individuals with the conditions.
The two common inflammatory conditions are believed to put patients at a higher risk of developing diabetes mellulitus as they predispose individuals to insulin resistance.
However, the research published in the journal found that certain disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs lowered the risk of the condition in these patients, indicating that systemic immunosuppression could also reduce diabetes risk.
According to the authors: "A randomized controlled trial testing the ability of these agents to prevent DM among participants with systemic inflammatory disorders should be considered."
In other diabetes news, blood plasma lipids could in future be used to predict diabetes and other major conditions, a new study has indicated.
Researchers from the Texas Biomedical Research Institute in the USA used data from the San Antonio Family Heart Study and isolated 128 different types of lipids which predicted the development of diabetes.
According to research Dr Joanne Curran, the most promising predictor discovered was a novel component called dihydroceramide (dhCer) which was seen to be much increased in diabetic individuals.
Written by Mathew Horton
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