High-intensity statins are linked to hypoglycemia during hospitalization

Study design

• Retrospective study of 31,094 patients discharged from internal medicine wards, 2010-2013.
• Funding: None.

Key results

• Compared with 6.7% of patients overall and 6.5% of all statin-treated patients experiencing ≥1 documented inpatient hypoglycemia event, overall rates among those with diabetes and those with low (
• Hypoglycemia rates with:
  • Low-intensity statins: 5.0%;
  • Moderate-intensity statins: 6.7%; and
  • High-intensity statins: 6.4%.
• Among patients with low albumin, high- vs low-intensity statins were associated with higher hypoglycemia incidence:
  • Significantly so without diabetes: 9.3% vs 4.8% (P<.05>
  • Trending to significance with diabetes: 25.2% vs 17.7% (P=.087).
  • No such relationship was seen with albumin >3.5 g/dL.
• 1-year mortality with albumin >3.5 g/dL and:
  • Low-intensity statins: 2.0%;
  • Moderate-intensity statins: 2.1%; 
  • High-intensity statins: 2.4%; and
  • No statins: 3.4%.  
• 1-year mortality with albumin
• Low-intensity statins: 13.9%;
• Moderate-intensity statins: 18.3%; 
• High-intensity statins: 19.3%; and
• No statins: 33.8%.

Limitations

• Retrospective.