The advantages of statins in reducing the risk of Myocardial Infarction, stroke, and cardiovascular death far outweigh the risk of diabetes due to statin . The JUPITER trial was the first placebo-controlled clinical trial to formally document an increased risk of diabetes in patients treated with statin therapy. Lead investigator of JUPITER primary-prevention trial , Dr. Paul Ridker (Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA) stated, "This is a really important clinical issue to get right, particularly because of media coverage earlier this year when concern was raised that patients taking statins had an increased risk of developing diabetes, and on that basis many patients stopped taking their medications." "Unfortunately, little if any data were available at that time to address not only the risks but also the benefits of treatment. This is crucial, since it is the benefit-to-risk ratio that physicians and their patients need to understand."

Ridker and colleagues stratified patients into two groups: patients with one or more major risk factors for diabetes (n=11,508) and those without any risk factors (n=6,095). What these data show is that in the short-term, the benefits clearly favor statin therapy. What we found was clinically important," said Ridker. "Among those with one or more major risk factors for diabetes, there were 134 fewer heart attacks, strokes, and other major cardiovascular events in those who got the statin, but this came with the hazard of 54 new cases of diabetes being diagnosed. This group is already at high risk for getting diabetes, a group already considered candidates for statin therapy."

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