Statin Use and the Risk of CVD Events, Stroke, and All-cause Mortality in Patients with Diabetes: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Aims: Considering the lack of evidence on statin use and the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in patients with diabetes in primary and secondary prevention, this study aimed to evaluate the effect of statin use in individuals with diabetes for primary and secondary prevention.

Data Synthesis: The MEDLINE, Web of Science, Embase, ClinicalTrials.gov, and Cochrane Central Register for Controlled Trials databases were searched. We included studies that assessed the effect of statin use in individuals with diabetes for at least 1 year. The outcomes included CVD, all-cause mortality, and stroke. A total of 24 studies including 2,152,137 patients with diabetes were included in the meta-analysis. Compared with statin non-users, patients who received statins showed a lower risk of CVD events (primary prevention: risk ratio [RR] = 0.80, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.69-0.94, P = 0.006; secondary prevention: RR = 0.75, 95% CI 0.65-0.87, P < 0.0001). No association was observed between statin and non-statin users and the risk of all-cause mortality. The pooled results also revealed that statin use reduced the risk of ischemic stroke in patients with diabetes (primary prevention: RR = 0.83, 95% CI 0.70-0.97, P = 0.020; secondary prevention: RR = 0.74, 95% CI 0.63-0.85, P < 0.0001).

Conclusions: Statin use significantly reduced the risk of CVD events and stroke, but not all-cause mortality, in individuals with diabetes undergoing both primary and secondary prevention. More data are required to verify the effects of statins in patients with diabetes.

Systematic Review Registration: PROSPERO CRD42021281132.