The Study
Association Between Long-term Statin Therapy and New-onset Diabetes in Cardiovascular Risk Patients in the UAE.
This study looked at people who took statins and those who didn’t, and noticed that more people who took statins ended up getting diabetes over time. But it didn’t make people take statins — it just watched what happened. So we can say statins and diabetes often happened together, but we can’t say statins definitely caused the diabetes.
Analysis score
Maximum 72 for a cohort study.
Where the score came from
This study looked at people in the UAE who took statins (cholesterol pills) for many years and compared them to people who didn't.
Where does this study sit?
Systematic Reviews & Meta-analyses
Max 100Randomized Trials
Max 90Cohort Studies
Max 72Case-Control
Max 58Cross-Sectional
Max 44Case Reports & Series
Max 30Expert Opinion
Max 559 / 100
Quality score
Groups of people are followed over time to see who develops an outcome. Strong for identifying risk factors and associations, but cannot prove causation as firmly as RCTs.
Key takeaways
Summary
Based on the study abstract and findings.
- 1Yes — while statins help prevent heart attacks, this study shows they also slightly raise the chance of getting diabetes, so doctors should check blood sugar in patients on long-term statins.
- 2Among people taking statins for 10 years, 1 in 19.2 developed diabetes.
- 3Those on statins were over 3 times more likely to get diabetes than those not taking them.
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
Oman medical journal
Year
2024
Authors
R. Govender, S. Al-Shamsi, R. Almazrouei, Abeer Tahrawi, Rehab Mersal
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.