Month: May 2015

The diabetes drug metformin may reduce the risk of developing open angle glaucoma, a new study finds. Researchers collected information from 10 years of health claims records of more than 150,000 people ages 40 and older. All of them had diabetes. In open angle glaucoma, fluid in the eye doesn’t drain properly and backs up. This causes the pressure in the eye to rise and put stress on the optic nerve. If left untreated, glaucoma can lead to blindness. According to the results, the risk for open angle glaucoma was 25% lower in people who took the highest amount of metformin (more than 1,110 grams in 2 years) compared with those who didn’t take the drug. The higher the dose of metformin, the lower the risk of open angle glaucoma. Even people taking lower doses of metformin had a lower risk compared with non-users. Other diabetes drugs did not have the same effect.

In 7 European countries, overdoses of a common painkiller cause one-fifth of all cases of liver failure that require a transplant, a study finds. But this is much more common in some countries than others. Researchers found 600 cases of short-term (acute) liver failure that led to liver transplants in a 3-year period in these countries. Of these, 111 were caused by an overdose of paracetamol. This is the drug known as acetaminophen (Tylenol and generics) in the United States. It is safe to use in recommended doses. But it can cause liver failure in large doses, especially when combined with alcohol. In this study, two-thirds of the overdoses were suicide attempts. Overdose rates varied widely from country to country. Paracetamol overdose caused 52% of the cases of liver failure leading to transplant in Ireland, but only 1% in Italy.