|
A new study has shown that metformin, a drug often used in the treatment of diabetes mellitus, is safe for use in treating patients who have both diabetes and advanced heart failure. The study was published in the Journal of Cardiac Failure by researchers at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and is now online here.
"There may be over two million individuals with heart failure and type II diabetes mellitus in the U. S. alone, so this important finding will have fairly broad impact," said Dr. Tamara Horwich, senior author of the study and an assistant professor of medicine in the division of cardiology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.
Previous studies have shown that diabetes increases not only the risk of developing heart failure, but also the risk of death among heart failure patients. This is due in large part to the fact that diabetes, because it increases the amounts of sugar and fat circulating in the bloodstream, accelerates the onset of coronary atherosclerosis. This hardening and thickening of blood vessels is the hallmark of atherosclerotic heart disease, the most common cause of death in the country. The optimal treatment for high glucose and fat blood levels among heart failure patients has not been demonstrated.
"many physicians have been reluctant to use metformin and other similar medications to treat this patient group. However, our analysis shows that using metformin to treat diabetes in patients with advanced, systolic heart failure is not only safe, but may also play a role in improving outcomes compared to conventional diabetes care."
Source:
Rachel Champeau
University of California - Los Angeles
|
