Evidence-based medicine is defined as “the conscientious, explicit and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients” [1]. Evidence-based medicine has changed the way in which guidelines and clinical recommendations are prepared. A premise of the strategy is to use the evidence that is most likely to be free of bias and representative of the clinical scenario that physicians will confront. The main sources are randomized controlled trials, meta-analyses, and systematic reviews. However, the end result of the process is heavily dependent on the proper definition of the population, the intervention, the comparator, and the outcome. Despite the application of strict methodological standards, the results of trials are never absolutely certain, as even the best trials have various limitations. In addition, the employment of the conclusion in populations different from those originally studied is a complex process. Furthermore, the utilization of cost-effectiveness analysis techniques requires experience, clinical judgment, and common sense. Lipid-lowering therapy is a core component in the treatment of type 2 diabetes. Within a decade, clinical guidelines have moved from recommending the achievement of lowdensity lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol goals to the systematic use of statins for high-risk cases, regardless of the baseline LDL cholesterol concentration [2]. Evidence-based medicine has played a major role in this change. A critical analysis of the evidence supporting the selection of the LDL cholesterol treatment goals proved that LDL cholesterol thresholds were not chosen based on a randomized controlled study or a meta-analysis. Meta-analyses showed that statins reduce the incidence of cardiovascular events in patients with diabetes, and the number of patients needed to treat to prevent one event was determined mainly by the magnitude of the cardiovascular risk. Moreover, statins reduced the incidence of cardiovascular events even in subjects with LDL cholesterol concentrations below the target levels. These conclusions could not have been reached and properly supported without large-scale multicenter studies and their cumulative analysis using the principles of evidence-based medicine [3, 4]. However, additional research is needed to generate the evidence required to support recommendations applicable for the full spectrum of patients included in the term “type 2 diabetes.” Although type 2 diabetes is considered as a coronary heart disease equivalent [5], type 2 diabetes includes a wide range of incidence rates of cardiovascular events. Additional efforts are needed to support the clinical decisions applicable in young adults with type 2 diabetes or even in conditions with a high risk for developing diabetes. Earlyonset type 2 diabetes is a common variant of the disease in non-white populations; it has been under-represented in the majority of studies. Since the incidence of cardiovascular outcomes is lower in this group compared to that observed in older cases [6], the length of follow-up in the currently C. A. Aguilar-Salinas (*) : R. Mehta Departamento de Endocrinologia y Metabolismo, Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Medicas y Nutricion, Vasco de Quiroga 15, Mexico City 14000, Mexico e-mail: caguilarsalinas@yahoo.com