Receiving rosiglitazone long-term raises the risk for heart failure and heart attack, according to a report in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). Rosiglitazone is a glycemic control medication given to patients with Diabetes Type 2 and people with glucose intolerance.

Sonal Singh, M.D., Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, N.C., and team looked at research to find out what the heart attack, heart failure and cardiovascular death risk might be for patients receiving rosiglitazone long-term. The authors explain that reports have come out recently about rosiglitazone use being linked to serious adverse events. However, the information to date has been limited and not enough for clinicians to decide what the health impact might be.

They looked at four randomized trials involving 14,291 patients – 6,421 received rosiglitazone, while 7,870 received control therapy. The follow up ranged from 1 to 4 years.

As the researchers gathered the data they found that rosiglitazone raised the risk of heart attack by 42% – 94 of the 6,421 rosiglitazone patients compared to 83 of the 7,870 control patients had a heart attack. Long-term use of rosiglitazone doubled the heart failure risk; 102 of the 6,421 rosiglitazone patients experienced heart failure compared to 62 of the 7,870 control patients. They did not find a link between the long-term use of rosiglitazone and cardiovascular death.

The authors concluded “Our findings have potential regulatory and clinical implications. These data suggest a reversal of the benefit-to-harm balance for rosiglitazone present at the time of approval. Thus, currently there appear to be much safer treatment alternatives. Regulatory agencies ought to reevaluate whether rosiglitazone should be allowed to remain on the market. Health plans and physicians should not wait for regulatory actions. They should avoid using rosiglitazone in patients with diabetes who are at risk of cardiovascular events, especially since safer treatment alternatives are available.”

“Long-term Risk of Cardiovascular Events With Rosiglitazone – A Meta-analysis”
Sonal Singh, MD; Yoon K. Loke, MBBS, MD; Curt D. Furberg, MD, PhD
JAMA. 2007;298:1189-1195.
Clic here to see abstract online

Written by: Christian Nordqvist