Re: Blood Pressure Drug Could Cause 8,000 Diabetes Cases a Year

[Default] On Sat, 09 Sep 2006 10:01:52 GMT, "Ozgirl"
<are_we_there_yet@xxxxxxxxxx> Maniacally Screamed the following like a
drunken "Ozgirl" <are_we_there_yet@xxxxxxxxxx> into the madness of
usenet:

Kurt wrote:

http://www.diabetes.org/diabetesnewsarticle.jsp?storyId=13287016&filename=20060907/bhsuper20060907TDMA00008196KEYWORDMissingEDIT.xml

Can you quote a little of the article with each link? I am
on dialup and an old computer and sometimes going to
websites is not worth the effort.


Partial quote:
"07-SEP-2006

Blood Pressure Drug Could Cause 8,000 Diabetes Cases a Year


BETA-BLOCKER drugs used to fight high blood pressure can bring on
diabetes, researchers have warned.

They say the risk is 50 per cent higher than with newer drugs.

At least two million Britons have been on beta-blockers at any one
time, although they are no longer recommended for treating high blood
pressure and are being phased out.

Experts believe 8,000 people a year in the UK have been developing
diabetes as a result of taking the drugs.

The condition greatly increases their already high risk of heart
attacks, strokes and kidney disease. The latest guidance to doctors
already says that newer aceinhibitors and calcium channel blockers
should be the first choice treatment for the millions of Britons being
treated for high blood pressure.

The National Institute for Clinical Excellence issued the guidelines
after research found the older drugs were only half as effective at
stopping strokes and heart attacks.

But the results of a clinical trial, released yesterday, show they can
actually hasten and, in some cases, induce diabetes.

Although many patients are being switched to newer drugs by their GPs
when they go for a scheduled check-up, beta-blockers remain in wide
use.

They are still considered the best treatment for conditions such as
angina, and doctors have warned patients not to stop taking them
without medical advice as sudden withdrawal may trigger a heart
attack.

The trial which exposed the diabetes risk was led by Professor Neil
Poulter, co-director of the International Centre for Circulatory
Health at Imperial College London.

He said last night: 'The chance of a patient with raised blood
pressure developing diabetes can be cut by newer treatments,
irrespective of the patient's initial level of risk.

Many cases of diabetes could be prevented if GPs avoid prescribing the
older treatments to hypertensive patients unless they specifically
require them.' Experts stressed that, for the remaining beta-blocker
patients, the benefits of the drugs in lowering blood pressure still
massively outweigh the diabetes risk, so they should not suddenly stop
taking them.

But they also called for all patients to be switched to the new drugs
as soon as possible.

The trial results were released at the World Congress of Cardiology in
Barcelona.

The study looked at 14,000 patients in the UK, Ireland and
Scandinavia, half of whom were taking the old combination of the
betablocker Atenolol and a diuretic. The others were prescribed a
calcium channel blocker called amlodipine and the ace-inhibitor
perindopril, and in this group 34 per cent fewer patients developed
diabetes over three years.

The study suggests the aceinhibitor protects against the condition,
while the other drug is neutral. But the beta-blocker and diuretic
combination actually encourages diabetes. Professor Poulter, professor
of preventive cardiovascular medicine, said: 'The result emphatically
adds to the evidence that beta-blockers and diuretics can exacerbate
that risk.

'They have been great drugs for a long time but there is a downside
and we have to stop pretending that it's OK to give people diabetes.
These cases are absolutely unnecessary. 'The newer drugs are better at
stroke prevention, more cost-effective and don't give you diabetes.'
He estimates that around 8,000 cases of diabetes a year in the UK can
be blamed on the drugs, out of the 100,000 diagnosed each year. "





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