Atorvastatin reduces the risk of cardiovascular events in elderly type 2 diabetics as safely and effectively as it does in the general population, as per the subgroup analysis of the CARDS study presented at The Endocrine Society's 88th Annual Meeting (ENDO 2006).

This subanalysis included 1129 type 2 diabetes patients aged 65 years and older who also had 1 or more of the following risk factors: hypertension, retinopathy, current smoking and microalbuminuria or macroalbuminuria. These patients were randomized to receive either 10 mg/day of atorvastatin or placebo.

Results showed that atorvastatin 10 mg reduced the following vs. placebo (Figure)

The overall safety profile of atorvastatin among elderly patients was comparable to that of placebo and similar to that reported for the entire study cohort.

The investigators comment that even though statins are often underprescribed in the elderly, the results of the present analysis support recently published guidelines recommending statin treatment for all patients with type 2 diabetes aged 40 and older.