People with type 2 diabetes are more prone to have some heart disease, high blood pressure or stroke. Using a combination of diuretics and ACE inhibitors to manage blood pressure in these people with type 2 diabetes can help protect against heart disease, revealed by researchers in a recent worldwide study known as ADVANCE.
The study, which was presented at the European Congress of Cardiology in Vienna and reported in the Journal “Lancet”, also said that the drugs also cut at the risk of heart and kidney diseases.
The trial, co-ordinated by the Institute, involved 11,140 patients from 20 countries, who were already on medication for diabetes, cholesterol and blood pressure.
For the trial, half of the patients were given an extra tablet containing two blood pressure-lowering drugs (Perindopril and Indapamide), apart from their normal medications, while the rest took a placebo.
“If the benefits seen in ADVANCE were applied to just half the population with diabetes worldwide, more than a million deaths would be avoided over five years. For these reasons, there is now a case for considering such treatment routinely for patients with type 2 diabetes,” study author John Chalmers, from The George Institute at the University of Sydney in Australia, said in a prepared statement.