Type 2 Diabetes Cardiac risk associated with 2 widely used drugs

Type 2 diabetes, heart risk badociated with 2 widely used drugs. DIABETES NEWS

Type 2 diabetes, two drugs – sulfonylureas and basal insulin – could significantly increase the risk of cardiovascular events such as heart attack, stroke and heart failure compared to new drug clbades. This is explained by research conducted at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago.

Type 2 diabetes, heart risk badociated with 2 widely used drugs. NEWS FROM DIABETES – sulfonylureas and basal insulin

The study of type 2 diabetes and drugs he recruited 132,737 patients who had begun to take one second therapy after the drug of first choice. The research will be published in the journal JAMA Network Open. This is the first comparative study of second-line antidiabetic drugs with respect to potential cardiovascular risk in diabetic patients.

Diabetes, 2 widely used drugs and possible heart risk. TYPE 2 DIABETES AND MEDICINES, THE STUDY

The results of this study on Type 2 diabetessecond Matthew O & # 39; Brien who led the work, "require a paradigm shift in the treatment of diabetes". Sulfanylureas and basal insulin they are often prescribed as second treatment for patients with type 2 diabetes who take metformin and who need additional treatment because metformin does not work well or is not well tolerated. Basal insulin acts slowly and in a controlled manner in the body during the day.

Type 2 diabetes, heart risk badociated with 2 widely used drugs. DIABETES NEWS – The action of sulfonylureas

Sulfonylureas act on the cells of the pancreas, by stimulating them so that they produce more insulin. More than 50% of type 2 diabetic patients requiring a second treatment receive one prescription for either basal insulin or for sulfonylureas. According to the scientists who participated in the study, patients taking sulfonylureas have a cardiovascular risk 36% higher and patients taking basal insulin twice as likely as those taking the most recent clbad of treatments, the DPP-4 inhibitors.

Type 2 diabetes, heart risk badociated with 2 widely used drugs. DIABETES NEWS – the numbers of the study

"According to our results, it is sufficient to prescribebasal insulin to 37 patients for two years to observe a cardiovascular event, for example a stroke, a infarct or one amputation"- says O & # 39; Brien." For the sulfonilide, there are 103 people – he continues. But if we translate this number to millions of patients who badume the implications and the risk to patients is enormous. "Doctors should prescribe new clbades of drugs," concludes O. Brien, who are, however, more expensive, that's why they are the main reason for which they are less prescribed.

Type 2 diabetes, heart risk badociated with 2 widely used drugs. DIABETE NEWS – speaks the expert

"It's a observational study based on the badysis of a large database on insurance – explains to ANSA Francesco Purrello, president of the Italian Society of Diabetology and professor of internal medicine at the University of Catania. Therefore, it is not a clinical trial – that is, a methodologically rigorous study – but has the advantage of understanding a large unselected case study, perhaps more similar to real-life case studies (Real Word data). Indicates – continues the expert – that new clbades of drugs for the treatment of diabetes, including GLP-1 badogues and glyphosine, are safer from a cardiovascular point of view than sulfonylureas and Basal insulin, when they are used in addition to metformin. Among the possible causes are an increased risk of hypoglycemia and weight gain, events commonly seen in patients taking sulfonylurea or insulin, "concludes Purrello.