Should All Diabetic Patients Be Treated With a Statin?

The prevalence of diabetes for all age-groups worldwide was estimated tobe 2.8 % (171 million) in the year 2000, and the projected number could rise to 4.4 % (366 million) in 2030 (1). This rapid rise is mainly attributable to the increase of diabetes. The continuing escalation of obesity and the metabolic syndrome contribute to the upsurge in frequency of diabetes (2,3). Interestingly, the appreciation in the number of people 65 years of age was found to be the most important demo-graphic change to diabetes prevalence around the world, indicating that the “di-abetes epidemic ” will continue even if lev-els of obesity remain constant. Therefore, it is likely that future diabetes preponder-ance is underestimated, given the grow-ing frequency of obesity (1). Because the vast majority of diabetic patients have type 2 diabetes and almost all the studies were performed in such subjects, in this article, “type 2 diabetes ” will be referred to as “diabetes.