Type of Drug For Diabetes Can Cause Heart Failure

A new study published in the

current issue of The Lancet

Diabetes and Endocrinology has

examined that the type of glucose or sugar-

lowering medications prescribed

to patients with diabetes may increased risk for the

development of heart failure in

these patients.



The study was conducted at American

College of Cardiology and examined

clinical trials of more than 95,000

patients and found that for every

one kilogram increase in weight as a result of sugar-lowering

diabetes medication or strategy,

there was seven

per cent increased risk of heart

failure directly linked to that

medication or strategy.



Dr. Jacob Udell, the study's

principal investigator, and

cardiologist at the Peter Munk

Cardiac Centre, University Health

Network (UHN) and Women's

College Hospital (WCH), said that

patients randomized to new or

more intensive blood sugar-

lowering drugs or strategies to

manage diabetes often showed an

overall 14 per cent increased risk

for heart failure directly

associated with the type of

diabetes therapy that was

chosen, as some drugs cause heart failure than

others, compared with placebo

or standard care.

Dr. Barry Rubin, Medical Director,

Peter Munk Cardiac Centre,

University Health Network (UHN),

asserted that the results of this

study could prove to be the

catalyst for how diabetes

patients at risk for heart disease

were managed.



It must be noted that heart failure is a common

occurrence for patients with type

2 diabetes and a major determinant of one's life expectancy

and quality of life and

healthcare costs.