Statins do not increase the risk of developing type 2 diabetes in familial hypercholesterolemia: The SAFEHEART study

Abstract

Background Familial Hypercholesterolemia (FH) is the most common monogenic disorder that causes premature coronary artery disease (CAD). Our objective was to examine the risk of new onset type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) among FH patients and unaffected relatives in relation to treatment with different statins in the SAFEHEART cohort study. Methods This is a cross-sectional and prospective cohort study in 2558 FH and 1265 unaffected relatives with a mean follow-up of 5.9years. Several pertinent data, such as age, gender, metabolic syndrome, lipid profile, body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, HOMA-IR, dose, duration and type of statins, were obtained and examined as predictors of incident diabetes. Results The new onset diabetes was 1.7% in FH and 0.2% in non FH patients (p=0.001). In multivariate logistic regression, age (OR 1.02, CI 95%: 1.02–1.08), HOMA-IR (OR 1.17, CI 95%: 1.03–1.33), metabolic syndrome (OR 3.3, CI 95%: 1.32–8.28) and specifically plasma glucose, as a component of metabolic syndrome (OR 15.7, CI 95%: 4.70–52.53) were significant predictors of new onset T2DM in the FH group alone. In the adjusted Cox regression model in FH group, age (HR 1.03, CI 95% 1.00–1.06, p=0.031) and metabolic syndrome (HR 4.16, CI 95% 1.58–10.92, p=0.004) remained significant predictors of new onset T2DM. Conclusions Our data do not support the postulated diabetogenic effect associated with high-dose statins use in our cohort of FH patients