Most adults with Type 2 diabetes should be taking a statin drug, experts now say, even if their cholesterol is normal.
New treatment guidelines from the American College of Physicians say doctors should be prescribing statins -- Lipitor, Zocor, Crestor, Pravachol, Mevacor or Lescol -- to any Type 2 diabetic with diagnosed coronary artery disease.
Diabetics with other cardiac risk factors, such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, obesity, smoking, physical inactivity or being older than 55, should take a statin or the non-statin cholesterol medication gemfibrozil (Lopid).
Treatment is especially important for pre-menopausal diabetic women with one of the risk factors.
The recommendations were based on a review of eight major studies of lipid-lowering statins in diabetics with known heart disease, showing that the medications reduce heart attacks and strokes by 22% to 44%, and six studies of diabetics who hadn't yet been diagnosed with cardiovascular disease.
Type 2 diabetes affects an estimated 16 million to 18 million Americans, up to 80% of whom will develop or die of complications from heart disease or coronary artery disease.
The guidelines appeared in the April 20 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.
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-- Jane E. Allen
