Item
#6
EASD:
Acarbose Prevents Diabetes in Pre-Diabetes Patients
A
25 percent reduction in the incidence of type 2 diabetes mellitus
during the course of the trial.
An
in-depth analysis of the data collected during the long-term,
international "Study TO Prevent Non-Insulin-Dependent Diabetes
Mellitus" (STOP-NIDDM) trial indicates that different subgroups
of patients with impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) have different
levels of benefits from taking acarbose with each meal.
The data were presented at the 38th annual meeting of EASD.
Initial results of the STOP-NIDDM trial, which were released earlier
this year in The Lancet (Vol. 359, No. 9323:2072-2077), show
that, overall, there was a 25 percent reduction in the incidence of
type 2 diabetes mellitus during the course of the trial among IGT
patients taking acarbose.
The study was an international, multicenter, double-blind,
placebo-controlled randomized trial. The researchers randomly assigned
1429 subjects with IGT (age 54.5 ±7.9 years, BMI 30.9 ±4.2 kg/m˛)
to receive either placebo or acarbose (100 mg 3 times a day) with each
meal, for a mean follow-up time of 3.3 years.
The results showed that acarbose reduced the conversion from IGT to
type 2 diabetes mellitus by 25 percent (relative hazard [RH]: 0.75,
p=0.0015) in subjects with one abnormal oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT)
at the beginning of the study. When the diagnosis of IGT was based on
two subsequent (abnormal) OGTTs, the reduction in type 2 diabetes
mellitus was 36 percent.
No serious side effects were observed with drug treatment. Therefore,
this study provides evidence that prevention of type 2 diabetes is
achievable in a high-risk group, without harmful side-effects.
Subsequent analysis of the data revealed that the likelihood of
preventing T2DM in patients with IGT varied among different subgroups
of patients. For example, females appeared to benefit slightly more
than men did (RH: 0.71 vs 0.77, p=0.009 vs 0.04). In general,
subgroups with IGT are different in their risk to develop diabetes,
the researchers noted. "Acarbose is effective in all subject
groups investigated, with pronounced effects in elderly subjects,
women, subjects with BMI<30, and those with normal insulin and
blood pressure levels," they concluded.
The study was funded by an
educational grant from Bayer, the manufacturer of acarbose.
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DID
YOU KNOW
In
1999, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reported that 450,000
annual deaths occurred among the diabetic population, a figure
representing about 19% of all deaths that year in the United States.
Adults with diabetes have heart disease death rates 2 to 4 times
higher than those without diabetes. Finally, the increased risk of
death and mortality rates associated with diabetes are compounded by
the fact that many diabetic individuals are unaware that they suffer
from the metabolic disorder.
===========================
Omron
HealthCare:
Sponsors of the S.T.E.P. Study: "10,000 Steps To
Enhanced
Prevention" http://www.diabetesincontrol.com/omron/index.shtml
