Davis TM et al. (2008) Lipid-lowering therapy and peripheral sensory neuropathy in type 2 diabetes: the Fremantle Diabetes Study. Diabetologia 51: 562–566

Dyslipidemia is a known risk factor for diabetic neuropathy, which suggests that lipid-lowering medications might have a preventive effect. In the general population, however, lipid-lowering therapy increases the risk of reversible peripheral neuropathy, although few studies have specifically examined patients with diabetes. Davis et al., therefore, recruited 1,294 patients with type 2 diabetes from the Fremantle Diabetes Study to evaluate the associations between serum lipid levels, lipid-lowering therapy, and the prevalence and incidence of peripheral neuropathy. Cross-sectional data that allowed the characterization of neuropathy were available for 1,237 patients.

At baseline, the participants' mean age was 63.8 years, the median duration of diabetes was 4.0 years, and 382 patients had peripheral neuropathy. In the subset of 531 patients for whom complete baseline and longitudinal data were available, 136 had peripheral neuropathy at baseline, and 248 subsequently developed neuropathy during 5 years of follow-up. In patients without neuropathy at baseline, the use of lipid-lowering therapy (statins, fibrates or both) increased over the following 5 years. After adjustment for duration of therapy, statin and/or fibrate use was inversely associated with new-onset neuropathy. After further adjustment for changes in serum lipid concentrations over time, the use of statins remained inversely associated with incident neuropathy.

The authors suggest that lipid-lowering therapy might protect against peripheral neuropathy in patients with type 2 diabetes. Further studies are required to confirm these results.