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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