The use of statins are associated with an increased risk of new-onset diabetes in patients with hypertension and obstructive sleep apnoea, a longitudinal study.

BACKGROUND

Statins, a kind of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase inhibitors, are first-line cholesterol-lowering drugs that are widely used in the primary and secondary prevention of coronary atherosclerotic heart disease (CAD). However, the safety of statins has been in the spotlight as recent studies have shown that statins may increase the incidence of diabetes. Therefore, we conducted a study of statins use and new-onset diabetes(NODM) in people with hypertension and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) to better understand the relationship and to provide guidance for future clinical management.

METHODS

We conducted a retrospective cohort study using data from the Urumchi Hypertension Database (UHDATA), including patients aged ≥ 18 years diagnosed with hypertension and obstructive sleep apnoea treated at our Hypertension Centre between 2015 and 2019. The study was followed until November 2023 and the primary endpoint was new onset diabetes during the follow-up period. The hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated using the Cox proportional hazards model. Sensitivity analyses were performed by excluding those with pre-diabetes at baseline.

RESULTS

8755 patients with hypertension and OSA, and 80.1% were followed up. During median follow-up of 31 months, 740 patients developed NODM. The incidence of NODM per 1000 person-years was 53.1. In Cox regression analysis, the risk of diabetes is significantly higher in patients who continue to take statins (HR = 1.77, 95% CI, 1.34-2.34, P < 0.001), and the results remain significant in sensitive analysis.

CONCLUSIONS

In patients with OSA and hypertension, continuous statins use increases the risk of diabetes and physicians should be vigilant about monitoring blood glucose levels when using statins in this patients.