WINSTON-SALEM, N.C., Sept. 12 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists have discovered long-term use of the popular diabetes drug Avandia can increase a person's risk of heart attack.
Researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medical analyzed four studies involving more than 14,000 patients and found long-term use of Avandia (rosiglitazone) increased the risk of heart attack by 42 percent and doubled the risk of heart failure.
The analysis is one of the first to evaluate how long-term use of Avandia -- taken by an estimated 3.5 million people in the United States -- affects risk of heart attacks, heart failure and mortality.
The researchers estimate that for every 220 diabetic patients treated with Avandia for one year, one will have a heart attack linked to the drug. There would be one case of heart failure for every 30 people taking the drug for one year.
Avandia is manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline pharmaceuticals.
The Wake Forest analysis, which included Dr. Yoon Loke of the University of East Anglia in the U.K., is reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
