The use of cholesterol-lowering statins may help prolong the lives of people with diabetic cardiovascular disease, says a new research.
Heart disease and stroke are the leading causes of death and disability among people with type-2 diabetes.
"People with diabetes and heart disease can still live quite a few years by taking statins," said Don Bowden, a professor of biochemistry at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in North Carolina.
The researchers studied data from 371 patients who had participated in a US Diabetes Heart Study.
The participants received a CT scan to determine their levels of coronary artery calcium (CAC).
A CAC score greater than 1,000 indicates an increased risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD).
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The team compared the baseline characteristics of 153 patients who died during an average 8.2 years of follow-up and 218 who survived.
The participants who took statins at the beginning of the study had an increased survival rate as compared to those who did not, the study found.
"These data suggest that cholesterol-lowering medications may be used less than recommended and need to be more aggressively targeted as a critical modifiable risk factor," Bowden added.
The study was published online in the journal Diabetes Care.