Drug May Lessen Amputation Risk for Diabetics
THURSDAY, May 21 (HealthDay News) -- The chances of having to have a limb amputated because of diabetes were reduced by 36 percent when people with type 2 diabetes were given the drug fenofibrate to lower their blood fat levels, new research has found.
The study included 9,795 people, ages 50 to 75, who took either 200 milligrams of fenofibrate or a placebo daily for five years. The researchers reported that 115 people had lower-limb amputations attributed to diabetes.
People with previous cardiovascular disease, microvascular disease, previous non-traumatic amputation or skin ulcer, smoking and a longer duration of diabetes were more likely to have amputations than those who had other cardiovascular problems or those who had neither cardiovascular issues or amputations.
The risk of a first amputation was 36 percent lower among people taking fenofibrate than those taking the placebo. The study also found that people in the fenofibrate group had a 47 percent lower risk of amputations below the ankle and without large-vessel disease in the amputated limb.
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