Publication:

Effect of atorvastatin and metformin combination therapy in type 2 diabetic dyslipidemias

Background Dyslipidaemia is a major risk factor for cardiovascular complications in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and affects 10-73% of this population. In type 2 diabetes mellitus, increased efflux of free fatty acids from adipose tissue and impaired insulin mediated skeletal muscle uptake of free fatty acids, increases fatty acid flux to the liver and also decreased glucose utilization in muscle that leads to acute elevation of free fatty acids. Lipid profile which is altered in diabetes state is one of the significant factors in development of cardiovascular diseases. The derangements seen in serum lipid profile includes: increased total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG) and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and decreased high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL) concentration. Hence with the aforementioned views the present study had been planned to evaluate the effect of atorvastatin and metformin combination therapy in type 2 diabetic dyslipidemias.

Methods Study design, observational prospective study, with duration of 4-5 months and sample size of 30 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus are taken with mild to moderate dyslipidemias. The study subjects received combination therapy of metformin 500 mg/day along with atorvastatin 20mg/day, there effect is seen on serum lipid profile and fasting blood glucose levels (FBS).

Results There was a significant mean decrease in TC, LDL , TG , FBS by 31.7 mg/dl (p 0.05).

Conclusions Combination of atorvastatin and metformin was effective in reduction of TC, LDL, TG and FBS and elevation of HDL levels in type-2 diabetic dyslipidemias.