Statins Beneficial for Type 2 Diabetes Patients, Reduce Cardiovascular Event Risk

Real-world data show that many people with diabetes could benefit from statins to reduce their risk of cardiovascular events are not being prescribed them. Results from a recent study show that nearly 2 out of 5 people with diabetes are not prescribed statins in the United States, indicating a wide variation in statin use for these patients.

In the study, investigators used data from the American College of Cardiology’s PINNACLE (Practice INNovation And Clinical Excellence) registry to look at practice-level variations in statin therapy between May 2008 and October 2013 among 215,193 patients with diabetes aged 40-75 years from 204 cardiology practices. None of the patients included in the analysis had overt cardiovascular disease during the study period.

Statin use in the study was defined as having a documented prescription for statins at any time during the study period.

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The study found that statins were prescribed in 61.6% of patients with diabetes. When comparing these patients with those not receiving statins, the study found that patients on statins had a higher prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors. They also were more likely to receive nonstatin lipid-lowering therapy (28% vs 13%) and had a lower mean low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) (90 mg/dL vs 103 mg/dL.).

The study also found that the median practice statin prescription rate among the 182 cardiology practices with >30 diabetic patients was 62.3%, which did not change over time.

When looking at 62,374 patients with LDL-C data available, the study found that 57.7% had LDL-C <100 mg/dL.

Overall, the study found a 57% practice-level variation in statin use even after adjusting for patient age, gender, race, hypertension, tobacco use, dyslipidemia, insurance provider type, and nonstatin lipid-lowering therapy. 

According to the authors, this finding suggests the variation in statin use is primarily determined by practice-related or provider-related factors. —Mary Beth Nierengarten

References:

Yashashwi P, Gosch K, Nambi V, et al. Practice-level variation in statin use among patients with diabetes: Insights from PINNACLE Registry. J Am Coll Cardiol 2016;68(12):1368-1369. https://content.onlinejacc.org/article.aspx?articleID=2552333

American College of Cardiology. “Low statin use n people with diabetes despite cardioprotective effects, guidelines.” ScienceDaily. September 12, 2016. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/09/160912142839.htm.