New onset diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular events in Korean patients with acute myocardial infarction receiving high-intensity statins

BACKGROUND: High-intensity statin therapy is typically used in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) for secondary prevention. However, there have been consistent concerns regarding its association with diabetes mellitus. We investigated the effect of high-intensity atorvastatin and rosuvastatin on new-onset diabetes mellitus (NODM) and cardiovascular outcomes over a 3-year follow-up period. METHODS: Data from the Korea Acute Myocardial Infarction Registry were collected from November 2011 to October 2015, and 13,104 patients with AMI were enrolled from major cardiovascular centers. Among them, 2221 patients without diabetes who had been administered with high-intensity atorvastatin (40–80 mg) and rosuvastatin (20 mg) were investigated. The atorvastatin and rosuvastatin groups were evaluated for the incidence of NODM and major adverse cardiac events (MACE) including death, myocardial infarction, and revascularization cases in the following 3 years. RESULTS: Baseline characteristics were comparable between the two groups. Event-free survival rate of NODM was not significantly different between the atorvastatin and rosuvastatin groups (92.5% vs. 90.8%, respectively; Log-rank P-value = 0.550). The event-free survival rate of MACE was also not significantly different between atorvastatin and rosuvastatin groups (89.0% vs. 89.6%, respectively; Log rank P-value = 0.662). Multivariate Cox analysis revealed that statin type was not a prognostic factor in the development of NODM and MACE. CONCLUSIONS: Administering high-intensity atorvastatin and rosuvastatin in patients with AMI produced comparable effects on NODM and clinical outcomes, suggesting their clinical equivalence in secondary prevention. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s40360-021-00476-z.