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Diabetes sufferers taking certain medications may run a greater risk of having a heart attack than patients on other drugs for the condition.

Canadian scientists studied older patients on thiazolidinediones (TZDs), which include rosiglitazone.

Published in the online issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, the work follows previous research indicating that the treatments may raise the risk of congestive heart failure, with rosiglitazone linked to a higher risk of acute myocardial infarction (heart attack) and death.

"While improved glycemic control has been linked to better clinical outcomes in diabetes and TZDs have been suggested as having potential cardiovascular benefits, recent concerns have arisen regarding adverse cardiac effects of these drugs," confirmed Dr Lorraine Lipscombe from Toronto’s Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences.

Her team monitored more than 150,000 diabetics taking oral hypoglycemic drugs over four years and concluded that individuals taking TZDs alone appeared to have a 60 per cent higher risk of congestive heart failure, a 40 per cent increased risk of heart attack, and a 28 per cent higher risk of death.

US researchers recently suggested that reducing the inflammation associated with type-one diabetes would also contribute to cutting cardiovascular disease.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 12th, 2007 at 3:05 pm and is filed under Diabetes, Heart, Medical Developments and treatments.