title: Cardiovascular safety of anti-diabetic drugs.
abstract: Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality among patients with diabetes, underscoring the importance of choosing anti-diabetic drugs that do not increase cardiovascular risk but might reduce the risk of cardiovascular events. Most type 2 diabetic patients die from cardiovascular causes despite the beneficial effects of blood pressure (BP) and lipid-lowering medications. The prevalence of patients with cardiovascular disease and diabetes mellitus is growing exponentially. Approximately 40% of patients hospitalized with heart failure and reduced ejection fraction have diabetes mellitus. The recent trials conducted in patients with heart failure who had diabetes showed a different response to standard medication, with these patients being more prone to develop side effects than patients with the same degree of heart failure but without diabetes mellitus. Therefore, careful selection of drug therapy paying particular attention to cardiovascular safety is important in optimizing diabetic therapy. This review discusses the efficacy and safety of the most commonly prescribed anti-diabetic drugs in the context of cardiovascular impact.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, University College Cork, Ireland rajesh.kumar@ucc.ie.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, University College Cork, Ireland Mercy University Hospital Cork, Ireland.
authors.forename: D M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Kerins
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, University College Cork, Ireland Center for Perinatal Medicine, Department of Obstetrics, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Walther
mesh_terms: D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000188:drug therapy; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy; D006801:Humans; D007004:Hypoglycemic Agents / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000627:therapeutic use
chemical_list: D007004:Hypoglycemic Agents
keywords: Anti-diabetic agents; Cardiovascular disease; Diabetes mellitus