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World J Diabetes. Mar 15, 2015; 6(2): 352-357
Published online Mar 15, 2015. doi: 10.4239/wjd.v6.i2.352
Statin use and risk of diabetes mellitus
Bharti Chogtu, Rahul Magazine, KL Bairy
Bharti Chogtu, KL Bairy, Department of Pharmacology, Kasturba Medical College, Manipal University, Manipal, Karnataka 576104, India
Rahul Magazine, Department of Pulmonary Medicine, Kasturba Medical College, Manipal University, Manipal, Karnataka 576104, India
Author contributions: Chogtu B performed the literature search and wrote the initial draft of the paper; Magazine R contributed to writing of paper; Bairy KL has given the final suggestions and editing.
Conflict-of-interest: All authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Dr. Bharti Chogtu, Associate Professor, Department of Pharmacology, Kasturba Medical College, Manipal University, Manipal, Karnataka 576104, India. bhartimagazine@gmail.com
Telephone: +91-820-2922365 Fax: +91-820-2922083
Received: August 27, 2014
Peer-review started: August 28, 2014
First decision: November 19, 2014
Revised: November 28, 2014
Accepted: December 18, 2014
Article in press: December 19, 2014
Published online: March 15, 2015
Core Tip

Core tip: The use of statins in diabetics has long term benefits in terms of decreasing morbidity and mortality. Recent studies have shown that statins increase the incidence of new onset diabetes. The issue became debatable after Food and Drug Administration released changes to statin safety that they increase glycosylated haemoglobin and blood glucose levels. At the same time statins are beneficial in preventing cardiovascular events. Most of the investigators are of the opinion that the risk of diabetes with statins can be outweighed by the long term benefits in preventing complications. In patients with high risk of diabetes, statins should be cautiously used.