Diabetes Drugs Avandia And Actos Double The Chance For Heart Failure

by Heather McLaughlin

Here’s yet another reason to try to stay as healthy as possible and not have to be on prescription medications for the treatment of Diabetes.

Two popular drugs used to treat Type 2 diabetes have been found to double the chances that 1 in 50 patients taking Avandia or Actos will have heart failure. Granted, the odds seem low, but if you’re the one person in 50 it could dramatically change your way of life.

The August issue of Diabetes Care released the following findings:

“Both Avandia and Actos double the risk of heart failure,” concluded the lead author of the first study, Dr. Sonal Singh, an assistant professor of internal medicine at Wake Forest University School of Medicine. “We know these drugs increase the risk, but we found the risk is more substantial than suspected. This occurs at even the lowest dose and among young patients.”

They also stated that Avandia’s risks are higher than that of Actos. Both drugs have a warning label posting it as a potential side effect.