Sulfonylurea Drugs Increase The Risk Of Heart Disease. Part 1 of 3

Sulfonylurea Drugs Increase The Risk Of Heart Disease. New digging shows that older people with type 2 diabetes who take drugs known as sulfonylureas to further their blood sugar levels may face a higher risk for heart problems than their counterparts who take metformin. Of the more than 8500 people aged 65 or older with pattern 2 diabetes who were enrolled in the trial, 12,4 percent of those given a sulfonylurea drug experienced a heart attack or other cardiovascular event, compared with 10,4 percent of those who were started on metformin. In addition, these mettle problems occurred earlier in the course of treatment among those people taking the sulfonylurea drugs, the study showed.

The head-to-head comparison trial is slated to be presented Saturday at the American Diabetes Association annual get-together in San Diego. Because the findings are being reported at a medical meeting, they should be considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal. With type 2 diabetes, the body either does not create enough of the hormone insulin or doesn’t use the insulin it does produce properly.

In either case, the insulin can’t do its job, which is to deliver glucose (blood sugar) to the body’s cells. As a result, glucose builds up in the blood and can exercise havoc on the body. Metformin and sulfonylurea drugs – the latter a class of diabetes drugs including glyburide, glipizide, chlorpropamide, tolbutamide and tolazamide – are often surrounded by the first medications prescribed to lower blood sugar levels in people with type 2 diabetes.

The findings are important, the researchers noted, partly because sulfonylurea drugs are commonly prescribed in the midst the elderly to lower blood glucose levels. In addition, cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death among people with type 2 diabetes. For several reasons, however, the unusual study on these medications is far from the final word on the issue.

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