Risk of incident diabetes among patients treated with statins: population based study

Diabetes associated with thiazide diuretic use doesn't increase cardiovascular risk (ALLHAT study).

This study has significant variability in thiazide diuretic use in the patient groups, with increased use in the three statins implicated with a greater relative risk of new diabetes compared to pravastatin. Correcting results for this confounder is inferior to matching baseline populations characteristics and reduces reliability of the results.

As a practicing GP registrar, this study will add little to statin risk discussion with my patients, due to the presence of a significant counfounder and the lack of clinically relevant data on whether the new onset diabetes is associated with increased cardiovascular risk.