Do Statins Really Raise Risk for Diabetes?

According to recent research, people taking high doses of the cholesterol-lowering drugs had a 12% higher risk for diabetes than those taking moderate statin doses. And users of high doses had a 20% higher risk for diabetes than people who do not take statins at all. But doctors say these statistics may be misleading. Statins increase blood sugar only a little, which may push a few patients over the threshold for diagnosis of diabetes. Most experts agree that the cardiovascular benefits of statin use far outweigh the increase in diabetes risk.