Statins, the drugs used to lower levels of bad cholesterol and reduce the risk of coronary disease are in the press again following a meta-analysis of the link between statins and type-2 diabetes.

The study was published in the Lancet and set out to clear up conflicting reports about a link between statin use and diabetes. The study looked at 13 trials from the period 1994–2009 and worked out that statin therapy was associated with a 9% increased risk for developing diabetes.

Previous meta analyses of this topic had shown some sort of link, but not a significant one. This latest report, from Naveed Satar and David Preiss, at the Glasgow Cardiovascular Research Centre, University of Glasgow, UK, and colleagues puts more weight behind the notion that statins and diabetes are linked, but the conclusion still comes down firmly on the side of statins: “In view of the overwhelming benefit of statins for reduction of cardiovascular events, the small absolute risk for development of diabetes is outweighed by cardiovascular benefit in the short and medium term,” the paper concludes.

Coverage ranges from measured (BBC’s Statins heart benefits outweigh diabetes risks) to less measured (Telegraph’s Cholesterol-busting wonder drugs taken by millions ‘increases diabetes risk’).

Previous studies have suggested that statins have benefits even for healthy patients. This latest round of analysis doesn’t contradict the benefits of statins, but will require further monitoring, and hopefully a molecular mechanism for the effect, if any such molecular mechanism exists, might be figured out eventually as well.