Fenofibrate Cuts Amputation Risk For Type 2 Diabetics -Study
22 Maggio 2009 - 1:00AM
Dow Jones News
Using fenofibrate to lower blood fats in people with type 2
diabetes reduces the risk of a first diabetes-related amputation by
36%, according to an article published Thursday in U.K. medical
journal The Lancet.
The Fenofibrate Intervention and Event Lowering in Diabetes
study involved 9,795 diabetic patients aged 50-75, who received
either fenofibrate or placebo for five years.
The FIELD study's aim was to assess whether long-term
lipid-lowering treatment with fenofibrate could reduce adverse
macrovascular and microvascular outcomes in patients with type 2
diabetes, including amputations.
Amputations were deemed minor if below the ankle and major if
above the ankle. They were also classified based on whether or not
large-vessel disease was present in the limb, to distinguish
amputations related to large-artery atherosclerosis from those
related to diabetic microvascular disease.
The randomized controlled trial found that the risk of first
amputation was 36% lower for all patients given fenofibrate
compared with placebo, while the risk of minor amputations without
known large vessel disease was 47% lower for the fenofibrate
group.
Risk of major amputations didn't differ significantly between
the two groups.
The study identified height as a major predictor of amputations,
with a 1.6 fold increase in amputation risk for every increase of
10cm in height.
The study's authors, Professor Anthony Keech and Dr. Kushwin
Rajamani of the National Health and Medical Research Council
Clinical Trials Centre at University of Sydney, Australia, said
"treatment with fenofibrate was associated with a lower risk of
amputations, particularly minor amputations without known
large-vessel disease ... These findings could lead to a change in
standard treatment for the prevention of diabetes-related
lower-limb amputations."
Sponsors of the study had no role in data collection or data
analysis, the article said.
Journal web site: www.thelancet.com
-By Sten Stovall, Dow Jones Newswires; +44 207 842 9292;
sten.stovall@dowjones.com
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