The Effect of Atorvastatin Intensity, Obesity, Gender, and Age upon New-onset Type 2 Diabetes Incidence among Libyan Coronary Heart Disease Patients

Abstract

Background: Atorvastatin is one of the statins family of lipid-lowering drugs. Statin has been linked to protective actions against cardiovascular disease; however, the use of statin has been linked to an increased risk of diabetes.

Aim of the study: To assess the prevalence of diabetes following the use of Atorvastatin and also to evaluate the effect of the statin intensity, BMI, age, and gender upon the glycemic control and incidence of diabetes.

Material and methods: 200 CHD patients divided into 2 groups. The atorvastatin group (using Atorvastatin (40 or 80 mg/day) for<2 months and the control group (non-atorvastatin users). FBG, HbA1c, total cholesterol, triglyceride, ALT, and AST were investigated, and BMI was calculated for all participants.

Results: Generally, the NOD incidence was 17% (17 patients had NOD out of 100 Atorvastatin-consuming patients), whereas, there were no NOD cases in the non-Atorvastatin group (100 cases). The oldest age ( ≥ 70 years) Atorvastatin-using patients showed the highest incidence of NOD (43.8%). The NOD incidence was higher in the male group with 22 NOD cases (27.5%) than that of the female group which showed 3 NOD cases (15%). Regarding the effect of BMI, the obese group (BMI ≥ 30) showed a higher incidence of NOD (23 cases, 45.1%) than the non-obese group (BMI<30) which showed 13 NOD cases (26.5%) of the atorvastatin using patients. In regards to statin intensity, the 80 mg/day-Atorvastatin subgroup showed 7 NOD cases (30%) which was higher than the 40 mg/ day-Atorvastatin subgroup which showed 18 NOD cases (23%) of the atorvastatin using patients.

Conclusion: Atorvastatin treatment was significantly implicated in the development of NOD. NOD incidence increases with higher doses of statin. The risk of NOD was also affected by other factors including; obesity, gender, and old age.