Background

Although statin therapy is beneficial for vascular diseases, the relationship between specific statin therapy and the incidence of new-onset diabetes mellitus (DM) remains uncertain. We evaluated the impact of Pitavastatin therapy on the development of new-onset DM from 3-year clinical follow up data in Asian population.

Methods

From January 2004 to September 2009, a total of 3,147 consecutive patients who did not have DM were enrolled. New-onset DM was defined as having a fasting blood glucose ≥126mg/dL or HbA1c ≥6.5%. Baseline characteristics between the Pitavastatin and the control group were propensity score matched (PSM, C-statics=0.868). Three-year incidence of new-onset DM was compared between the two groups.

Results

At baseline, patients in the Pitavastatin group had higher prevalence of elderly, male gender, dyslipidemia, coronary artery disease, smoking history, alcoholic history, higher levels of total cholesterol, triglyceride and LDL-C. The incidence of new-onset DM was higher in the Pitavastatin group at 3 years (6.8% vs. 2.0%, p<0.001). Following PSM (C-statics=0.868), the 2 groups were well balanced and 3-year follow up showed higher incidence of new-onset DM in the Pitavastatin group (8.4% vs. 0%, p=0.004, figure).

Conclusions

In our study, chronic pitavastatin use was associated with increased incidence of new-onset DM at 3 years.

Copyright © 2014 American College of Cardiology Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.