Statins and diabetes: focus on pitavastatin

Abstract

In this review, the focus is to investigate the effects of long-term statin therapy on glucose metabolism. The author analyzed the evidences of randomized clinical trials, meta-analyses, and experimental studies indicating the diabetogenic effect of the most of statins. Possible mechanisms of influence of statins on carbohydrate metabolism are presented. Particular attention is paid to the place of pitavastatin, due to its low diabetogenicity and minimal risk of drug interactions, as well as the need of taking into consideration the risk factors of diabetes and the preventive measures in patients receiving statin therapy.

Keywords

• diabetes mellitus
• lipid-lowering therapy
• statins
• atorvastatin
• rosuvastatin
• pitavastatin