(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- A medication for diabetics may do more harm than
good. Doctors are concerned rosiglitazone may increase older patients’ risk of
death and heart failure.
A black box warning was recently added to two drugs, rosiglitazone and
pioglitazone hydrochloride, cautioning patients with heart failure against using
them. Recent studies have shown the risks linked to rosiglitazone are even
greater than those associated with pioglitazone.
Researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School looked at
28,361 patients over age 65 that started taking either medication between 2000
and 2005. After an average of 380 days taking pioglitazone and 369 taking
rosiglitazone, 1,860 patients died. Rosiglitazone was found to be associated
with a 15 percent higher rate of death and 13 percent increased risk of heart
failure compared to those taking pioglitazone. The two groups had no difference
in their risk of heart attack or stroke.
“Although previous studies have indicated that the increased risk with
rosiglitazone use resides predominantly in cardiovascular outcomes, the present
study suggests that differences in all-cause mortality [death] risk may be even
more important to consider in elderly patients,” study authors wrote.
SOURCE: Archives of Internal Medicine, 2008;168[21]:2368-2375
