Fenofibrate Curbs Heart Disease in Diabetics

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(excerpt)

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Treatment with fenofibrate, a cholesterol-
lowering drug, reduces the risk of heart disease in patients with type
2 diabetes and components of the metabolic syndrome, researchers
report in the journal Diabetes Care.

Metabolic syndrome refers to a cluster of risk factors for diabetes
and heart disease -- including abdominal obesity, high blood pressure,
high blood sugar, low levels of "good" HDL cholesterol and high
triglycerides (another type of blood fat). The syndrome is typically
diagnosed when a person has three or more of these conditions.

Treatment with fenofibrate cut the risk of heart disease in diabetics
with abnormal cholesterol levels by 27 percent, lead investigator Dr.
Russell Scott told Reuters Health. He added that 23 patients would
need to be treated with the drug to prevent one case of heart
disease.

Scott of Christchurch Hospital, New Zealand and colleagues note that
the metabolic syndrome increases the risk of heart disease and stroke,
but it's not clear whether reduction in the risk of such events in
diabetic patients with fenofibrate differs depending on what features
of the syndrome are present.

To investigate further, the researchers examined data from a study of
fenofibrate in almost 10,000 diabetic patients, more than 80 percent
of whom met criteria for the metabolic syndrome.

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