Study: Combined lipid, blood pressure therapies don’t reduce diabetes patients’ cardiovascular risk

NEW YORK Diabetes patients combining drugs to control blood fat and blood pressure may remain at risk for heart attacks and other heart disease, according to a study presented in Atlanta on Sunday.

In the Action to Control Cardiovascular Risk in Diabetes, or ACCORD trial, a 10,251-patient study sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, researchers at 77 medical centers in the United States and Canada studied Type 2 diabetes patients ages 40 to 79 years considered to be at high risk of cardiovascular problems, taking one of three strategies for lowering the risk of cardiovascular problems: control of blood sugar, control of blood pressure and control of blood lipids.

They found that giving diabetes patients a fibrate and a statin did not reduce the combined risk of heart attack, stroke or death from cardiovascular disease more than a statin alone. Results of the study were presented at the American College of Cardiology’s 59th annual scientific session and will appear in the April 29 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

“ACCORD provides important evidence to help guide treatment recommendations for adults with Type 2 diabetes who have had a heart attack or stroke or who are otherwise at especially high risk for cardiovascular disease,” National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute acting director Susan Shurin said in a statement. “This information provides guidance to avoid unnecessarily increasing treatment that provides limited benefit and potentially increases the risk of adverse effects.”