Major Step Forward for Youth with Diabetes: Two drugs work better than one
July 18, 2012 § Leave a Comment
Taking two diabetes drugs in combination — metformin and rosiglitazon — was found to be more a more effective treatment than metformin alone for youth with recent-onset type 2 diabetes, according to a recent study funded by the National Institutes of Health. The researchers also found that adding intensive lifestyle changes — like increased physical activity or weight loss — provided essentially no additional benefits than using metformin therapy alone.
“The results of this study tell us it might be good to start with a more aggressive drug treatment approach in youth with type 2 diabetes,”said Philip Zeitler, M.D., Ph.D., the TODAY study chair and a pediatric endocrinologist at Children’s Hospital Colorado, Aurora. “We are learning that type 2 diabetes is a more aggressive disease in youth than in adults and progresses more rapidly, which could be why metformin alone had a higher than expected failure rate.”
Published in the New England Journal of Medicine, The Treatment Options for Type 2 Diabetes in Adolescents and Youth study — dubbed TODAY — is the first major effectiveness comparative trial for type 2 diabetes treatment in young people.
The study, which included 699 young people who had type 2 diabetes, randomly assigned study participants into three groups: metformin only (1,000 mg dose two times per day), metformin and rosiglitazone (4 mg two times a day), and metformin and lifestyle changes such as increased physical activity and weight loss.
“This study demonstrated that the combination of metformin and rosiglitazone reduced the rate of treatment failure,” said Megan J. Ehret, assistant profession of the University of Connecticut, Storrs. “Diabetes in the youth population is a major problem and how to effectively treat it is a larger one,” Ehret added.
Rosiglitazon is marketed as Avandia (a stand-alone drug), as Avandamet (a combination with metformin), and Avandaryl (Glimepiride) — all by GlaxoSmithKline.
Pharmacy Headquarters Blog (PharmacyHeadquarters.com) Editorial Staff Copyright 2012 – All rights reserved
Seniors get Healthy Bones with Vitamin D
July 13, 2012 § Leave a Comment
Seniors get Healthy Bones with Vitamin D
Taking at least 800 international units (IU) of vitamin D daily can help prevent broken bones in older people, according to a new meta-analysis of close to a dozen studies. There’s one catch: the vitamin D must be taking consistently and in dosages of at least 800 IUs in order to have a positive effect.
Published in the New England Journal of Medicine, the findings revealed a 30 percent risk reduction for hip fractures and a 14 percent reduction in other breaks by taking regularly taking at least the 800 IU dosage.
Lower dosage levels were found to have no effect. “Notably, there was no reduction in the risk of hip fracture at any actual intake level lower than 792 IU per day,” the researchers said.
“These hip fractures cost a lot and are a really serious event. They are usually the end of independent life for a senior person; 50 percent do not regain their mobility. Reducing the risk by 30 percent with just a vitamin supplement would be an enormous public health opportunity,” study researcher Dr. Heike Bischoff-Ferrari of University Hospital Zurich in Switzerland said.
As it stands currently, the Institute of Medicine recommends that most adults get 600 to 800 IU of vitamin D, with an upper limit of 4,000 IU of vitamin D.
Based on 11 trials among more than 31,000 people, this new analysis included tests of various oral vitamin D regiments in people 65 years of age and older — most who were women — as compared to an inactive placebo.
The most clear-cut positive impact was seen in nursing home patients who received the highest doses of vitamin D; those patients regularly took their medications because nurses dispensed and made sure the patients took their pills, Bischoff-Ferrari said.
The researchers also pointed out that taking too much calcium — over 1,000 mg per may — could dilute vitamin D’s bone benefits, when the daily normal calcium consumption people get in their normal diets propels them over the limit.
Pharmacy Headquarters Blog (PharmacyHeadquarters.com) Editorial Staff Copyright 2012 – All rights reserved
