CARDS on the table: should everybody with type 2 diabetes take a statin?

• Published in: Current medical research and opinion 2005-03, Vol.21 (3), p.357-361
• Main Authors: Lee, J. D., Morrissey, J. R., Mikhailidis, D. P., Patel, V.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Atorvastatin; Atorvastatin Calcium; Clinical Trials as Topic; Coronary events; Diabetes Complications - prevention & control; Diabetes mellitus; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 - complications; Evidence-Based Medicine; Heptanoic Acids - therapeutic use; Humans; Hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA Reductase Inhibitors - therapeutic use; Pyrroles - therapeutic use; Renal function; Risk Factors; Stroke; Vascular complications; Vascular Diseases - etiology; Vascular Diseases - prevention & control
• ISSN: 0300-7995; 1473-4877
• DOI: 10.1185/030079905X36413

ABSTRACT Background: Vascular complications are a major cause of morbidity and mortality in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). The recently published Collaborative Atorvastatin Diabetes Study (CARDS) showed that atorvastatin (10 mg, once daily vs. placebo) markedly reduces vascular events in this high-risk population. The participants ( n = 2838) were fairly typical T2DM patients without cardiovascular disease and with at least one other risk factor: hypertension, retinopathy, albuminuria or current smoking. In the treatment group, coronary events were reduced by 36% ( p = 0.001) and stroke by 48% ( p = 0.001). The trial was terminated two years early on ethical grounds. The number needed to treat (NNT) was 27 for four years to prevent one event. However, the benefit may have been greater since a proportion of the placebo group received statin therapy. The benefit from statin treatment was independent of sex, age, baseline lipid levels, systolic blood pressure, retinopathy, albuminuria, smoking or HbA1c. The frequency of adverse events did not differ between the groups. These findings support those of other statin trials. Scope: CARDS does not comment on renal function. However, other trials suggest that statins preserve renal function in those with and without DM. We discuss the CARDS study in this context in this brief overview paper. Conclusions: the evidence shows that we need to control glucose to prevent microvascular complications, to lower cholesterol to prevent macrovascular disease and to lower blood pressure to prevent both. It may be that the benefit of statins extends beyond a threshold low-density lipoprotein cholesterol level in patients with T2DM. More trials are needed in this field.