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Cholesterol-lowering drug may delay diabetes onset
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Treatment with bezafibrate to lower
cholesterol in people with heart disease also reduces the risk of
developing full-blown diabetes in those who have high blood sugar
levels, doctors in Israel report.
Their research suggests that the benefit is similar to that achieved
with anti-diabetes medication.
While bezafibrate is used to lower cholesterol levels, it is already
recognized as effective in reducing blood glucose levels in people
with overt diabetes, Dr. Alexander Tenenbaum and associates explain
in the rapid access issue of the American Heart Association's journal
Circulation.
The investigators, at Chaim Sheba Medical Center in Tel-Hashomer,
studied 303 patients with a history of heart attack or heart-related
chest pain (angina) or both, and who had fasting blood glucose levels
in the high range but were not being treated for diabetes.
Among the 156 patients randomly assigned to treatment with bezafibrate,
fasting blood glucose levels declined during the first year, but
this did not happen among the 147 assigned to a control group. Blood
sugar levels then remained lower in the treatment group over an
average of six years.
New-onset diabetes was diagnosed in 54 percent of the control group
and 42 percent of the bezafibrate group, and the average time until
diabetes started was 3.8 years and 4.6 years, respectively.
"Whether the combination of bezafibrate with other recommended
drugs for secondary prevention (statins and ACE inhibitors) would
be as efficacious as suggested by our results remains to be determined,"
Tenenbaum's team points out.
SOURCE: Circulation, May 11, 2004.
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