Researchers at the University of Glasgow have discovered that pravastatin, a drug widely prescribed to lower cholesterol and reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke, may also have benefit for people who are at risk of developing late-onset type 2 diabetes.

The finding follows further analysis of the University of Glasgow's landmark West of Scotland Coronary Prevention Study. This study of 6,595 men with elevated cholesterol levels and no history of heart disease showed that pravastatin reduced the risk of a first heart attack. The trial was conducted over five years with half the sample using pravastatin and the other half taking a placebo.

Professor Chris Packard of the Department of Pathological Biochemistry at the University of Glasgow who conducted this latest investigation said: "The results of our analysis were that if you were on the placebo during the five years of the study, you had about a three percent chance over the five years of getting diabetes - that is maturity onset of type 2 diabetes. If you were on the pravastatin arm of the study, then your risk was reduced by 30 per cent."

The findings, which are the first to show that a statin drug can reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes, have been published today (23 January 2001) in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

Type 2 diabetes is a serious medical condition which can lead to complications such as blindness, kidney failure and amputations. High cholesterol is a risk factor for developing type 2 diabetes.

Professor Packard says the problem for many western societies is that the number of overweight people is increasing. "This means that that in ten or twenty years' time the number of diabetics will increase dramatically. So if our findings carry through and we can induce a 30% reduction in the risk of developing diabetes using a drug like pravastatin, then this has major implications for the control of the onset of diabetes. We take this as encouraging data."

While the 30 percent risk reduction for diabetes that they found among pravastatin users was encouraging, the researchers say that further large randomised studies are needed to confirm the finding. Among questions to be asked is whether all drugs of the statin family have this effect or whether the reduction is related to particular characteristics of pravastatin. Scientists will also seek to explain the underlying mechanisms which bring about these effects.

Media Relations Office (media@gla.ac.uk)

Further information:
Professor Chris Packard or Dr Dylis Freeman 0141 211 4706 or
University of Glasgow Press Office: 0141 330 3535 email: Press@gla.ac.uk

First published: 23 January 2001