Doubts over diabetic heart disease prevention
Tuesday March 16th, 2010
Aggressive treatment of blood pressure and cholesterol may not help prevent heart disease in people with diabetes, according to the findings of a major trial published yesterday.
A study involving some 10,000 patients found that lowering blood pressure to "normal" levels made no significant difference to heart disease risk.
And using an extra drug, fibrate, to treat cholesterol alongside the standard statin treatment was also unsuccessful, researchers on the study, known as ACCORD, said.
Dr Susan Shurin, of the US National Institute for Health Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, said: "ACCORD provides important evidence to help guide treatment recommendations for adults with type 2 diabetes who have had a heart attack or stroke or who are otherwise at especially high risk for cardiovascular disease."
Researchers said the "more intensive" blood pressure treatment showed a risk of serious side effects.
The findings were reported on-line in the New England Journal of Medicine.
The cholesterol study showed that most patients would not benefit from fibrate treatment - although experts said there was no question that statins should be used.
European experts said fibrate had been shown in the trial to help patients who already had high cholesterol levels.
Analysis by a group called the Residual Risk Reduction Initiative, based in Switzerland, said the trial had shown that high-cholesterol patients had 70 per cent more heart-related illnesses, including death, heart attacks and strokes - than others.
R3i president Professor Jean-Charles Fruchart said the study had confirmed that these patients would benefit from fibrate.
* A second study last night revealed a new drug for type 2 diabetes - otherwise known as late onset diabetes.
Laboratory studies of the new drug in Ohio, USA, are reported in the Journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology.
Researchers at Ohio State University said the drug targeted a protein called MIF, which is thought to cause inflammation and cause problems with blood sugar.
The ACCORD Study Group. Effects of combination lipid therapy in type 2 diabetes mellitus. N Eng JMed 2010. DOI:10.1056/NEJMoa1001282.
Tags: Diabetes | Europe | Heart Health | North America | Pharmaceuticals
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