Aim: Dyslipidaemia may be a risk factor for diabetic kidney disease. We examined prospectively association between the use of statins and development of renal dysfunction in type 2 diabetes.
Methods: A consecutive cohort of 5264 diabetic patient recruited between 1996 and 2005 underwent detailed assessments. Renal dysfunction was defined as first estimated glomerular filtration rate <60 ml/min/1.73 m(2), or, the first hospitalisation with a diagnosis of renal disease as coded by the International Classification of Disease, Ninth Revision. Drug use was quantified using the proportion of exposure time from baseline to event/death/censored time, as appropriate.
Results: In this cohort (male: 47.3%, median age: 55 years, median duration of diabetes: 6.0 years), none had renal dysfunction at baseline. During a median follow-up period of 4.9 (quartiles: 2.77, 7.04) years, 703 patients (13.4%) developed renal dysfunction, 1275 patients (22.2%) were exposed to statins. After controlling for baseline risk factors, multivariable adjusted hazard ratio of statin use for development of renal dysfunction was 0.32 (95% CI 0.21-0.50, p<0.0001).
Conclusion: Use of statins was associated with reduced risk of developing renal dysfunction in type 2 diabetes and this association was independent of baseline risk factors.
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