Item #4
Pioglitazone
Benefits Non-Diabetics With Hypertension
It
appears to lower diastolic blood pressure, improve glucose metabolism
and may help prevent the development of diabetes and cardiovascular
disease.
The
insulin sensitizer used to treat type 2 diabetes, pioglitazone (Actos;
Takeda Pharmaceuticals), may have a role in non-diabetic patients with
essential hypertension, results of a controlled trial indicate.
Dr.
Thomas Konrad of the Institute for Metabolic Research in Frankfurt and
a German team randomized 60 patients non-diabetic patients with
arterial hypertension to pioglitazone (45 mg/day) or placebo for 16
weeks.
Compared
with placebo, pioglitazone treatment was associated with improved
glucose metabolism, as evidenced by increased insulin sensitivity (P =
0.022) and decreased insulin resistance (P < 0.001). Pioglitazone
also led to greater decreases in both fasting insulin (P = 0.002) and
fasting glucose (P = 0.004).
On
the lipid front, pioglitazone but not placebo was associated with
significant increases in HDL-cholesterol (P = 0.006) and significant
decreases in apolipoprotein B (P = 0.035).
Body
weight remained unchanged in both study arms. Mean systolic BP fell by
6.7 mmHg in the pioglitazone arm and by 3.1 mmHg in the placebo arm, a
difference that was not significant. However, the difference in
changes in diastolic BP between pioglitazone and placebo were
significant at -7.9 and -1.8 mmHg, respectively.
"These
changes would suggest improved glucose metabolism and a possible
reduction in risk of cardiovascular disease with pioglitazone
treatment in non-diabetic patients with arterial hypertension,"
the team concludes.
It
can be assumed that therapy with pioglitazone reduces systolic and
diastolic blood pressure. J
Clin Endocrinol Metab 2002;87:5503-5506.
Let
your Patients Check Their Own A1c Levels.
It will motivate to better control.
www.a1cnow.net
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DID
YOU KNOW:
Do
you know: The clinical
signs of high insulin levels?
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