---
Newer beta-blocker seen safer for diabetics
Newer beta-blocker seen safer for diabetics -- Posted by Gumbo on 12-05-04 21:55
Newer beta-blocker seen safer for diabetics
Nov 10 (Reuters) - A beta-blocker blood pressure medicine proved
significantly better in keeping blood sugar levels from rising in diabetics
than another widely used member of the beta-blocker family, according to
results of a large clinical trial.
The study involved 1,235 high-risk patients with type 2 diabetes and
hypertension -- two of the biggest risk factors for heart disease. It
measured long-term blood sugar levels of those taking Glaxo's Coreg, or
carvedilol, against those taking the generic drug metoprolol for at least
five months.
Most of those in the study were also taking cholesterol medication.
While both drugs were similarly effective in lowering blood pressure to the
desired goal of less than 130 over 80, the study presented on Tuesday at the
American Heart Association annual scientific meeting demonstrated Coreg's
superiority in keeping blood sugar levels from worsening.
"Side effects are the big Achilles heel of beta- blockers," said Dr. George
Bakris, director of the hypertension clinical research unit at Rush
University Medical Center in Chicago and the lead investigator of the study.
Beta-blockers generally do a good job of lowering blood pressure and
decreasing some cardiovascular risks, Bakris said. But they tend to raise
blood sugar, slow the heart rate and can increase cholesterol problems such
as triglycerides.
Slow heart rate, for example, was much higher in the metoprolol group,
Bakris said.
At least 18 million Americans suffer from high blood pressure, type 2
diabetes and high cholesterol, Bakris said, making traditional beta-blockers
that raise blood sugar problematic for this patient population.
The average age of patients in the trial was 61, with about 42 percent
female and 13 percent African-American.
Coreg has been on the market since 1997 as a treatment for hypertension and
heart failure with sales of $577 million for the first nine months of this
year.
Researchers believes the antioxidant activity of Coreg is what separates it
from other beta blockers.
This study should help allay concerns of prescribing it for millions of
diabetics, Bakris said.
"This gets you to where you need to be as far as blood pressure goes without
the extra baggage of worrying about those other cardiovascular risk factors
getting worse," he said.
Related
Discussion:
Work at home as a Broker - Get paid DAILY (1 posts)
by RJ Web Services - Last post on: 05-22-04 19:05
If you have 7-10 hours per week to work this business at home,
you will earn A Lifetime RESIDUAL INCOME and be able to reitre in 2 - 4 years.
You can expect to earn $600-$2000 a month to start.
This is NOT a fly-by-night business.
*has the highest rating with the Better Business Bureau
*... (Read More)
Shu Li (1 posts)
by Rye - Last post on: 08-24-03 03:56
--WebTV-Mail-17862-5085
Content-Type: Text/Plain; Charset=US-ASCII
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7Bit
http://coral-online.com/Rye
--WebTV-Mail-17862-5085
Content-Description: signature
Content-Disposition: Inline
Content-Type: Text/HTML; Charset=ISO-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: Quo... (Read More)
arthritis pain (1 posts)
by Ivan Snavely - Last post on: 08-30-04 06:30
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=36460&item=5509085760&tc=photo
... (Read More)
Heartburn Drugs Linked To Pneumonia (1 posts)
by Gumbo - Last post on: 11-04-04 17:30
Heartburn Drugs Linked To Pneumonia
October 27, 2004
CHICAGO (AP) -- Widely used heartburn and ulcer drugs such as Nexium, Pepcid
and Prilosec can make people more susceptible to pneumonia, probably because
they reduce germ-killing stomach acid, Dutch researchers found in a study of
more than 3... (Read More)
Top
Discussions From Our Archives
Re: who sets a tracking bug using your ip number...
diabetes and IBS (newbie)
Affiliates of - The Greatest Vitamin in the World... - Tell 20 People Get $1000
Work at home as a Broker - Get paid DAILY
Food, Culture, and Diabetes in the United States
Other
Discussion Categories
Diabetes Symptoms
Health Care Policy
Health Care Providers HMO
| 
