A new study published on bmj.com today adds to mounting evidence
that rosiglitazone - a drug used to treat type 2 diabetes - is
associated with an increased risk of major heart problems. It
finds that rosiglitazone is associated with significantly higher
odds of congestive heart failure, heart attack and death
compared with a similar drug (pioglitazone). Rosiglitazone and
pioglitazone belong to a class of drugs called
thiazolidinediones that help to control blood sugar levels in
patients with type 2 diabetes. Both drugs are known to increase
the risk of heart failure, but it is unclear whether there are
clinically important differences in their cardiac safety. In
2010, the European Medicines Agency suspended the use of
rosiglitazone in Europe, but in the United States it is still
available on a restricted basis. So a team of researchers in the
UK and the US set out to compare the cardiovascular effects of
the two drugs among patients with type 2 diabetes. They analysed
the results of 16 studies involving 810,