Research was published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology today with analysis of three different clinical trials that looked at Lipitor (scientific name: atorvastatin).  The authors found new evidence that taking Lipitor slightly increased your chance of eventually getting diabetes.  There have been several studies before this, and this research increases the evidence of this effect. Interestingly, the effect seems to be most pronounced among individuals who already have other risk factors for diabetes.  From a Reuters Health article about the study:

"But it also suggests that the risk may largely exist among people who also have the well-known risk factors for type 2 diabetes -- including excess weight, high blood sugar, elevated triglycerides (a type of blood fat) and high blood pressure.

Those four factors appear "very good at distinguishing people at high or low risk for developing new-onset diabetes with atorvastatin," lead researcher Dr. David D. Waters, of the University of California at San Francisco, told Reuters Health in an email."

In the study where Lipitor seemed to increase the risk of diabetes the most, 8.7% of people who received the drug eventually got diabetes whereas only 6.1% of people who received the placebo got the drug.  This means that Liptor recipients were 37% more likely to get diabetes. That said, the overwhelming majority (over 90%) of individuals in all the trials did NOT get diabetes.  This research suggests that people on Lipitor should be closely monitored for the development of diabetes - but not that they should discontinue taking it.  Lipitor has been shown to help decrease the risk of having a stroke or heart attack - as well as some other forms of heart disease.