Statins double the risk of stroke

This study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine 2005 Jul 21;353(3):238-48

Study title and authors:

Atorvastatin in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus undergoing hemodialysis.

Wanner C, Krane V, März W, Olschewski M, Mann JF, Ruf G, Ritz E; German Diabetes and Dialysis Study Investigators.

Division of Nephrology, Department of Medicine, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany. wanner_c@medizin.uni-wuerzburg.de

This study can be accessed at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16034009?dopt=Abstract

This study investigated the effects of statin (atorvastatin) treatment in diabetic patients receiving hemodialysis. The study included 1,255 subjects with type 2 diabetes who were receiving hemodialysis who were assigned to receive either 20 mg of atorvastatin per day or matching placebo.

The study found:

• Those receiving atorvastatin had twice the risk of a fatal stroke.
• Death rates were similar in both groups.

This study found that atorvastatin increased stroke risk and had no effect on total death rates.