Effects of rosuvastatin and atorvastatin on glycaemic control in Type2 diabetesthe CORALL study Diabetic Medicine, 05/04/2012

Simsek S et al. - Glycaemic control deteriorated in patients with diabetes following high-dose statin therapy. Presently, it appears that, based on the overwhelming prospective trial data available, the preventive effect of statin therapy supersedes that of the slight increase in HbA1c.

• The CORALL study, which was a 24-week, open-label, randomized, parallel-group, phase IIIb, multi-centre study, was designed to compare the cholesterol-lowering effects of rosuvastatin compared with atorvastatin in patients with Type 2 diabetes.
• Fasting plasma glucose levels and HbA1c levels were collected at baseline and at 6 and 18 weeks.

• Treatment with the highest dose of statins, i.e. atorvastatin 80 mg and rosuvastatin 40 mg at 18 weeks from baseline, was associated with increase in HbA1c levels; baseline 57 ± 11 mmol/l (7.4 ± 1.0%) to 61 ± 14 mmol/mol (7.7 ± 1.3%) (range 5.0-11.9) for atorvastatin (P = 0.003) and from baseline 60 ± 11 mmol/mol (7.6 ± 1.0%) to 63 ± 13 mmol/mol (7.9 ± 1.2%) (range 5.7-12.3) for rosuvastatin (P < 0.001).
• Mean fasting plasma glucose increased from baseline 8.7 ± 2.4 mmol/l to 9.5 ± 3.0 mmol/l upon treatment with atorvastatin 20 mg (P = 0.002) and 9.0 ± 3.0 mmol/l after treatment with 80 mg (not significant compared with baseline).
• The mean fasting plasma glucose did not change after treatment with rosuvastatin (9.1 ± 2.7 mmol/l at baseline, 8.9 ± 2.7 mmol/l with 10 mg, 9.4 ± 2.9 mmol/l with 40 mg).