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You most likely know that diabetes patients have their own range of medications that they have to take in order to manage their condition. What you probably don’t know is that some people have to take some of those medications despite not being diabetic. For example, some people develop insulin resistance without actual diabetes. According to a team of researchers from Yale, stroke and heart attack risk lowered by diabetes drug.
The study
Published in the New England Journal of Medicine, the study shows how the diabetes drug pioglitazone can be helpful towards preventing strokes and heart attacks. In order to determine this, the team of researchers looks at a sample of 4,000 participants.
None of the 4,000 was diagnosed with diabetes, but they had all been resistant to insulin for the past five years. The participants were divided into two groups, with one receiving pioglitazone, while the other received a placebo.
Despite the difference not seeming all that significant – 11.8% of the placebo patients had either a stroke or a heart attack during the study, while only 9% of the pioglitazone patients did – it actually is, especially if we are to consider the huge percentage of the world’ population that suffers from strokes and heart attacks every year.
Surprisingly, diabetes seems to also have been partially held at bay by the medication, with 4% of the pioglitazone patients developing the condition during study, as opposed to the 7% that were on the placebo and developed diabetes.
Pioglitazone and you
In their study, the researchers claim that pioglitazone, a drug aimed at improving insulin sensitivity, work very well at preventing cerebrovascular and cardiovascular events in patients with insulin resistance. Thirty out of every thousand patients can be saved from a stroke or a heart attack by taking the medicine.
It was known for quite a while that insulin resistance was linked to heart attack and stroke risks, but there was nothing to do about it. With the help of the new study, however, people have an extra chance at getting the therapy they need.
Sadly, though, few boons come without their drawbacks. In this case, pioglitazone does offer some not quite pleasant side effects, such as increasing the chance of bone fractures, edema, and even weight gain.
Despite this fact, the experts behind the study are pretty certain that the benefits of the pioglitazone treatment drastically outweigh the potentially hazardous side effects.
Image source: Wikimedia
