Diuretics, Statins May Increase Risk for Diabetes

Diuretics and statins—not beta-blockers or calcium-channel blockers (CCB)—have been associated with new-onset diabetes in patients with impaired glucose tolerance, according to a reanalysis of the 2010 NAVIGATOR trial.

Researchers studied approximately 9000 patients with impaired glucose tolerance. At baseline, the patients were divided into treatment naïve groups: beta-blockers (n=5640), diuretics (n=6346), statins (n=6146), and CCB (n=6294). The patients were studied for the development of new onset diabetes—diagnosed via standard plasma glucose level and confirmed with glucose tolerance testing within 12 weeks.

During the median 5-year follow-up, 16.2% of the patients were started on beta-blockers, 20.7% on diuretics, 22% on statins, and 18.6% on CCBs.

Researchers found that diuretics (hazard ratio, 1.23) and statins (hazard ratio, 1.32) were associated with on-set diabetes, while beta-blockers (hazard ratio 1.10) and CCBs (hazard ratio, 0.95) were not.

The complete study is available in the December issue of the British Medical Journal.

Reference:

Shen L, Shah B, Reyes E, et al. Role of diuretics, beta-blockers, and statins in increasing the risk of diabetes in patients with impaired glucose tolerance. Reanalysis of data from the NAVIGATOR study. BMJ. 2013 Dec 9;347:f6745.