Established methods were used in compliance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and
Meta-Analyses statement for reporting systematic reviews and meta-analyses in health care interventions.5 A search of
pertinent RCTs conducted from November 1994 to October 2012 was performed by 2 independent investigators
covering the MEDLINE, Cochrane, Google Scholar, and
Embase databases as well as abstracts and presentations
from major cardiovascular meetings, using the search string
“statins AND/OR diabetes.” The internal validity of the
RCTs was assessed by 2 independent reviewers.