CardioExchange Archive

January 9th, 2012

Statins Elevate Diabetes Risk in Postmenopausal Women

Larry Husten, PHD

Statins increase the risk for developing diabetes in postmenopausal women, according to a new study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine. The study provides more evidence and details about the previously reported link between statins and diabetes development. Using data from more than 153,000 postmenopausal women who were participating in the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) and did […]

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August 15th, 2011

Drug Eluting Stents: It Pays To Be Picky

Richard A. Lange, MD, MBA and L. David Hillis, MD

 Why buy the most expensive stent when the cheaper one works just as well?  Two recent studies suggest that a more selective use of stents has merits.  In an analysis of pooled data from 4 trials (SPIRIT II-IV and COMPARE) comparing the more-expensive everolimus-eluting stent (EES) with the less-expensive paclitaxel eluting stent (PES), Stone and colleagues identified a […]

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July 25th, 2011

Adding HbA1c Measurements Improves CV Risk Prediction in Diabetics

Larry Husten, PHD

Current risk prediction models classify diabetes as equivalent to established cardiovascular disease. Now, a new report from the Women’s Health Study and the Physician’s Health Study II suggests that adding HbA1c measurements to the model can improve risk prediction and lead to downward classification of some diabetics. In a paper published in Archives of Internal Medicine, […]

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June 25th, 2011

Limited Benefit Found for Early Aggressive Management of Diabetes

Larry Husten, PHD

In the ADDITION-Europe trial, 3055 patients without diabetes were randomized to either routine care or screening followed by intensive treatment of multiple risk factors. The results were presented at the American Diabetes Association meeting and published online in the Lancet. After five years, cardiovascular risk factors — HbA1c, lipids, and blood pressure — were “slightly but significantly better in the […]

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June 25th, 2011

Diabetes Growth Termed a Rising Global Hazard

Larry Husten, PHD

In 2008, some 347 million people in the world had diabetes, more than twice the 153 million in 1980, according to estimates contained in a report in the Lancet from the Global Burden of Metabolic Risk Factors of Chronic Diseases Collaborating Group. The paper appears in conjunction with the annual meeting of the American Diabetes Association. Throughout  the world […]

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April 6th, 2011

Large Study Finds Wide Differences in Risks Among Diabetes Drugs

Larry Husten, PHD

A very large observational study has found an increase in death and cardiovascular risk in people taking insulin secretagogues (ISs) compared with those taking metformin. Tina Ken Schramm and colleagues, reporting in the European Heart Journal, analyzed data from the entire population of Denmark and identified 107,806  people who initiated therapy with an IS or […]

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October 8th, 2010

Analysis of ADVANCE Explores Role of Hypoglycemia

Larry Husten, PHD

A new analysis of the ADVANCE (Action in Diabetes and Vascular Disease: Preterax and Diamicron Modified Release Controlled Evaluation) trial sheds light on the role of hypoglycemia in recent trials of glucose control. In a paper in the New England Journal of Medicine, the ADVANCE investigators report that 2.1% of 11,140 patients with type 2 diabetes […]

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September 26th, 2010

Avandia: Lessons Learned and Unanswered Questions

Harlan M. Krumholz, MD, SM

The following is republished from Pharmalot, a widely read site that provides commentary on the pharmaceutical industry and related litigation. What should we make of the decisions on Avandia yesterday? There remains some controversy about the risk, but the concerns were sufficient, given the therapeutic alternatives, to bring about action. The Europeans decided to suspend sales […]

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September 17th, 2010

Study Identifies MicroRNA Pattern Linked to Diabetes

Larry Husten, PHD

Researchers in Britain and Europe have identified a microRNA pattern that may help identify people at risk for developing type 2 diabetes and who may go on to have cardiovascular events. “It’s very important for the clinician to define those diabetic patients who are at the highest risk of developing cardiovascular complications,” said the senior […]

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July 26th, 2010

Questions for Sanjay Kaul about TIDE and Avandia

Sanjay Kaul, MD and Harlan M. Krumholz, MD, SM

CardioExchange’s editor-in-chief Harlan Krumholz discussed the TIDE trial on email with Sanjay Kaul, who was a member of the FDA’s advisory panel last week on Avandia. Here is a lightly edited version of their exchange. Krumholz: What is your response to the FDA announcement that it has placed TIDE on a “partial clinical hold”? Do you […]

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