Attention all DUers taking Avandia!

[Fleshdancer]

Diabetes Drug Tied to Heart Risks
Diabetes Drug Avandia Raises the Risk of Heart Attacks, Study Suggests

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Diabetes/wireStory?id=3196454

A new analysis links the widely prescribed diabetes drug Avandia to greater risk of heart attack and possibly death.

More than 6 million people worldwide have taken the GlaxoSmithKline drug since it came on the market eight years ago. Pooled results of dozens of studies revealed a 45 percent greater risk of heart attack, according to the analysis, published online Monday by the New England Journal of Medicine.

The drug is used to treat Type 2 diabetes, the most common form of the disease, which is linked to obesity. It occurs when the body does not make enough insulin or cannot effectively use what it manages to produce.


:wtf:

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. Oh I'lll tell you why

the most common and underreported side effect is weight gain....

[sharp_stick]

2. I don't know how much to trust the study.

and the analysis itself is questionable simply because the statistics are from several different studies all looking at different endpoints with different patient and volunteer populations.

on edit: I would never stop taking a medication based on a single study or news report either.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

3. You have to be careful with meta-analyses.

Often, they're meta-science.

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. I can tell you my experience

the weigh gain was spectacular, so I was taken off it

but given the weigh gain, some of which I am still trying to loose, does not surprise me

Higher weight increases your risk by anywhere from 10 to 20 percent

And weight gain is one its major side effects

What patients need to do is talk with their MD