does avandia used for diabetes have an increased risk of heart attack ?

This warning was a result of a retrospective study published recently which showed increased heart attack risk with Avandia. This study was funded by avandia’s competitor Pfizer. This is a risk associated with all drugs in that class of medication (actos and avandia), and has been known about since the drug was approved.

Prescription drugs are dangerous, which is why they are not readily available to the public and only available when prescribed by a physician and dispensed by a pharmacist who have a combined 16+ years of education in the field. This is not new information for them, this is just media hype in an effort to gain market share. It’s an advertising campaign.

This risk has been known about since the drug was approved. If you look at the study cited it merely analyzed the studies done to approve the drug. The FDA alert says this:

"The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is aware of a potential safety issue related to Avandia (rosiglitazone), a drug approved to treat type 2 diabetes. Safety data from controlled clinical trials have shown that there is a potentially significant increase in the risk of heart attack and heart-related deaths in patients taking Avandia. However, other published and unpublished data from long-term clinical trials of Avandia, including an interim analysis of data from the RECORD trial (a large, ongoing, randomized open label trial) and unpublished reanalyses of data from DREAM (a previously conducted placebo-controlled, randomized trial) provide contradictory evidence about the risks in patients treated with Avandia."

"Since the drug was approved, FDA has been monitoring several heart-related adverse events (e.g., fluid retention, edema and congestive heart failure) based on signals seen in previous controlled clinical trials of Avandia alone and in combination with other drugs, and from postmarketing reports. FDA has updated the product’s labeling on several occasions to reflect these new data, most recently in 2006. The most recent labeling change for Avandia also included a new warning about a potential increase in heart attacks and heart-related chest pain in some individuals using Avandia."

Note that it says the FDA is aware of this, not that this is new data for the FDA. I will repeat again the sentiment that this is just an over-hyped media quoting a study that has already been done, and was already known by health care professionals when they made the decision to start you on Avandia.

Continue taking it until you have an opportunity to discuss it with your physician.

There have been some commercial studies by drug manufactuers that are limited in scope and I think these studies are suspect.

Right now I think that the consensus in the medical community is that any drug can pose health hazards or unpleaseant side effects to a limited portion of the population, and caution must be taken when using any medication, and if any discomfort or (insert here the standard litany of product manufacturers disclaimers and warnings) should arise seek emegeny medical attention immediately.

I have been taking Avadia for quite some time now, with no complications, and I do not plan to discontinue use, unless there is a recall on the product, or there is definative proof, that the continued use of the mediation over time poses a threat to my cardio-vascular health.

Ist of all as to whether Avandia puts Type II Diabetics at higher risk for hear attacks , – the opinons that I have been hearing are that you have to have a diagnosted heart condition, and then your physcian can better evaluate the risks of using Avandia with you.

According to the manufacturer, simply using Avandia , in an of itself does not cause Heart problems. So I think the Jury is still out on this one. Good luck.

as of the last few weeks that is what they are finding out. They also advise people to NOT stop taking it, just talk to thier doctor about other options.