Diabetes Heart Treatments May Cause Harm
By Gina Kolata, The New York Times
Three aggressive treatment strategies doctors had expected would prevent heart attacks among people with Type 2 diabetes and some who are the verge of developing it have proved to be ineffective or even harmful, new studies show.
The results are surprising and disappointing, heart and diabetes experts say. An estimated 21 million Americans have Type 2 diabetes, the kind once known as adult-onset, and they are at enormous risk for heart disease. The only measures proved to reduce their chances - avoiding cigarettes and taking medication to lower bad cholesterol and blood pressure - still leave diabetics with a heart attack risk equivalent to that of a nondiabetic who has already had a heart attack.
So doctors began trying other strategies they hoped would help: getting blood pressure to a normal range; raising levels of good cholesterol and lowering levels of dangerous triglycerides; or modulating sharp upswings in blood sugar after a meal.
Complete Story >> http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/15/health/research/15heart.html?emc=tnt&tntemail1=y