|
Two types of drugs used to treat hypertension, diuretics and beta-blockers, appear to increase a person's chances of developing type 2 diabetes, according to Harvard researchers.
But two other types of hypertension drugs, calcium channel blockers and ACE inhibitors, were not linked to development of type 2 diabetes, the researchers reported in the May issue of the journal Diabetes Care.
The researchers undertook their study, using data from studies that followed three large groups of women and men, in an effort to clarify conflicting findings as to the relation between the use of different classes of antihypertensive medications and the risk of type 2 diabetes.
"Thiazide diuretic and beta-blocker use were independently associated with a higher risk of incident diabetes," the researchers found. "Increased surveillance for diabetes in patients treated with these medications may be warranted."
The risk of developing diabetes for people taking thiazide-type diuretics was 20 percent higher for older women, 45 percent higher for younger women, and 36 percent higher for men, the researchers found.
And older women taking beta-blockers for hypertension had a 32 percent higher risk of developing diabetes than those not taking beta-blockers, while for men the risk was 20 percent higher.
"ACE inhibitors and calcium channel blockers were not associated with risk," the researchers reported.
Source: Medical Week staff, May 19, 2006
|
HOME PAGE
