Lipid Management in Diabetes with a Focus on Emerging Therapies

Abstract

We reviewed the current and potential future management of dyslipidemia in patients with diabetes, with a focus on reduction of risk for macrovascular disease. We considered novel dyslipidemia therapies, in particular, inhibitors of proprotein convertase subtilisin kexin 9 (PCSK9), which have been approved in Canada for reducing low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol in certain patient groups. We searched for English-language randomized clinical trials (RCTs) of lipid-lowering modalities, mainly since 2012, that included patients with diabetes. The results from some RCTs may have future impacts on the approach to patients with diabetes. In particular, ezetimibe added to statins in the context of acute coronary syndromes seems to have particular benefits in patients with diabetes. Also, patients with diabetes show no differences, so far, from patients without diabetes with respect to efficacy of PCSK9 inhibitors in LDL cholesterol reduction and also in the frequency of adverse effects. RCTs of clinical outcomes with PCSK9 inhibitors performed exclusively in patients with diabetes are desirable, but approval of these agents for use in Canada has occurred before the availability of such results. Clinicians will have to gauge whether certain subjects with diabetes might benefit from this therapy, such as those with superimposed familial dyslipidemia, those with recurrent cardiovascular events and recalcitrant LDL cholesterol levels despite maximally tolerated statin therapy and those with high cardiovascular risk who cannot tolerate any dose of statins.