Background: Statins were regarded as a main medication for managing hypercholesterolemia. Administration of statin therapy could reduce the incidence of cardiovascular disease in individuals diagnosed with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM), which was recognized by multipal clinical guidelines. But previous studies had conflicting results on whether the long-term use of statins could benefit the renal function in diabetic patients.

Aim: To evaluate the association between statin treatment and Chronic Kidney Disease in DM patients.

Methods: This is a retrospective disproportionality analysis and cohort study based on real-world data. All DM cases reported in US Food and Drug Administration adverse event reporting system (FAERS) between the first quarter of 2004 and the fourth quarter of 2022 were included. Disproportionality analyses were conducted by estimating the reporting odds ratio (ROR) and the information component (IC). We further compared the CKD odds ratio (OR) between the statins group and the other primary suspected drug group among the included diabetes mellitus cases.

Results: We finally included 593647 DM cases from FAERS, 5113 (5.31%) CKD cases in the statins group and 8810 (1.77%) CKD cases in the control group. Data analysis showed that the statins group showed a significant CKD signal (ROR: 3.11, 95% CI: 3.00-3.22; IC: 1.18, 95% CI: 1.07-1.29). In case group with two or more statins treatment history, the CKD signal was even stronger (ROR: 19.56, 95% CI: 18.10-21.13; IC: 3.70, 95% CI:3.44-3.93) compared with cases with one statin treatment history.

Conclusion: The impact of statin therapy on the progression of renal disease in individuals diagnosed with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) remains inconclusive. After data mining on the current FAERS dataset, we discovered significant signals between statin treatment and CKD in diabetic patients. Furthermore, the incidence rate of CKD was higher among DM patients who used statins compared to those who did not.