Research
Hormonal
Statins reduce cardiovascular events and inflammatory markers (CRP) but may increase the risk of new-onset diabetes, indicating a trade-off between cardiovascular protection and glycemic control.
Statins are highly effective at preventing heart attacks and strokes, even in people with normal cholesterol but high inflammation. However, they can slightly increase the risk of developing diabetes. For most people with cardiovascular risk, the heart protection outweighs this risk. Monitor your blood sugar if you start statins.
StrongQualifiesHIGH confidence
To the extent that statins are antiinflammatory and atherosclerotic risk reduction by statins depends on their antiinflammatory properties, the effects of statins on glycemia are discordant. This was demonstrated in JUPITER, where recipients of rosuvastatin had a higher reported incidence of diabetes.
Why this rating
Supported by large trials (JUPITER) and meta-analyses.
Source
Therapeutic approaches targeting inflammation for diabetes and associated cardiovascular risk
Allison B. Goldfine et al. · Journal of Clinical Investigation · 2017
DOI 10.1172/jci88884
narrative_reviewCited 173×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Obesity-related sub-acute chronic inflammation acts as a pathologic mediator for both type 2 diabetes and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, with inflammatory markers like CRP predicting risk independently of weight.Good
- IL-1β antagonists (e.g., anakinra, gevokizumab) improve glycemia and beta-cell function in type 2 diabetes, but their effect on cardiovascular events is still being determined in large trials.Moderate
- Salsalate, a non-acetylated salicylate, lowers blood glucose and triglycerides in type 2 diabetes by activating AMPK and inhibiting NF-κB, but its effect on cardiovascular plaque progression is unclear.Moderate
Related findings · Hormonal
- Initial treatment for type 2 diabetes should be a combination of metformin and either an SGLT-2 inhibitor or a GLP-1 receptor agonist to achieve cardiorenal protection, rather than monotherapy or older agents like sulfonylureas.Strong
- For patients with specific monogenic obesity syndromes (leptin deficiency, POMC/PCSK1/LEPR mutations), targeted pharmacotherapy (recombinant leptin or setmelanotide) is highly effective and should be prioritized, unlike in polygenic obesity.Strong
- Continued weekly administration of 2.4 mg subcutaneous semaglutide prevents weight regain and promotes further weight loss in adults with overweight or obesity, whereas switching to placebo results in significant weight regain.Strong
This is one finding among thousands. Every one is graded and traced to its source, so you can see what the evidence actually supports. Browse the research →