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Mesothelioma: A Killer
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Two schizophrenia drugs tied to small diabetes risk
Last Updated: 2004-09-29 11:03:53 -0400 (Reuters Health)
By Amy Norton
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Two drugs commonly prescribed for schizophrenia - clozapine and olanzapine -- may carry a small risk of an increased risk of diabetes, new research shows.
The study of nearly 57,000 schizophrenia patients in the Veterans Affairs (VA) health system found that just over 7 percent developed diabetes over 1 to 2 years of follow-up. The risk of diabetes was higher among those who were on the antipsychotic drugs clozapine or olanzapine for at least 3 months during the study period.
Both of the drugs belong to a class of medications known as atypical antipsychotics, which are newer schizophrenia drugs developed in the 1990s that carry fewer side effects than conventional antipsychotics. They are now considered first-line therapy for the disorder.
Still, past research has suggested that these newer drugs may raise the risk of diabetes, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has already instructed manufacturers to place a warning on product labels.
The FDA decision applies to all atypical antipsychotics, but the new findings suggest that the risk may be real only for clozapine and olanzapine, study co-author Dr. Douglas L. Leslie told Reuters Health.
And even that risk appears small, the study found. For instance, the "attributable risk" of diabetes associated with clozapine was about 2 percent.
That means that of clozapine patients who developed diabetes during the study, 2 percent would not have become diabetic if they been on a conventional antipsychotic, explained Leslie, an assistant professor of psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut.
He and colleague Dr. Robert A. Rosenheck report the findings in the September issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry.
Atypical antipsychotic drugs are thought to raise the odds of type 2 diabetes by promoting weight gain. A number of reports have suggested that people on these medications have a higher-than-average prevalence of diabetes, but the studies did not follow patients over time to document new cases of the disease.
Leslie and Rosenheck used VA data to follow 57,849 schizophrenia patients who had been treated with an antipsychotic for at least three months. By the end of the study, 4,132 patients were newly diagnosed with diabetes -- at an annual rate of 4.4 percent, which is much higher than the 0.6-percent rate in the general public.
While clozapine and olanzapine seemed to account for some of this risk, the researchers note that it's unclear how much of the risk could have been due to the underlying schizophrenia, poorer overall health or other factors.
But, according to Leslie, doctors can use what's known about the risk associated with schizophrenia medications to monitor patients for weight gain and possibly head off the development of diabetes.
SOURCE: American Journal of Psychiatry, September 2004.
Copyright © 2004 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.
Anakinra useful for severe type of spinal arthritis
Last Updated: 2004-09-28 16:47:47 -0400 (Reuters Health)
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The anti-rheumatic drug anakinra is an effective treatment for patients with ankylosing spondylitis, a serious type of arthritis that commonly affects the spine, according to a new study.
In a three-month study published in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, Dr. D. McGonagle and colleagues from Leeds General Infirmary, UK, examined the effects of anakinra in nine patients with ankylosing spondylitis that failed to respond to standard drugs.
Treatment with anakinra, which was given as a daily injection, improved the subjects' back pain, mobility, and quality of life. In addition, MRI testing showed that many of the arthritic areas in the back improved or disappeared.
This study suggests that anakinra is effective in patients with ankylosing spondylitis that is resistant to standard treatments, the authors write. However, larger studies are needed to establish its effectiveness against this disease.
SOURCE: Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, September 2004.
Copyright © 2004 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.
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