Harvard Health Content API

Taking statin drugs to lower cholesterol can raise blood sugar in some people. But these drugs may actually reduce the risk of diabetes-related problems such as eye and nerve damage, a study suggests. The study looked at records in a Danish clinical registry of people with diabetes. Researchers compared 2 groups. One group included 15,679 people who had used statins before diagnosis with diabetes. The other 47,037 people had not taken statins. Researchers looked at their records for a median of 2.7 years after diagnosis. People who had used statins were 34% less likely to be diagnosed with diabetes-related nerve damage than those who had not used these drugs. They were 40% less likely to develop eye damage. Their risk of gangrene was about 12% lower than for those who had not taken statins. Kidney damage occurred at equal rates in both groups.

People with the least common blood type may have a higher risk of dementia than those with other types, a new study suggests. The study included more than 30,000 people, ages 45 or older. They were given a series of tests of memory and thinking skills. About 500 people had low enough scores to show some impairment. Researchers compared the blood types of this group with almost 600 people who had normal test scores. People with type AB blood were 82% more likely to have impaired thinking skills than those with type O blood. Only 4% of people in the study had type AB blood. O is the most common type. Researchers said the increased risk for those with type AB was relatively small. Smoking, lack of exercise and obesity are linked with much greater risks of dementia. The journal Neurology published the study online. HealthDay News wrote about it September 10.

Osteoporosis drugs do reduce the risk of fractures. But there’s no evidence that one drug is clearly better than others, an evidence review concludes. Osteoporosis causes bones to become thin and brittle. They are more likely to get broken. This condition is most common in older women. The pills prescribed most often are bisphosphonates. They include Actonel (risedronate), Boniva (ibandronate), Fosamax (alendronate) and others. Denosumab (Prolia) and teriparatide (Forteo) are given as injections. The new study combined results from 294 prior studies. These studies compared osteoporosis drugs to placebo. The new analysis found that various drugs cut the risk of a spine fracture by 40% to 60%. They lowered the risk of hip and other fractures by 60% to 80%. There were few studies comparing drugs to each other. However, raloxifene (Evista) appeared to prevent only spine fractures.