Study: More Pills Not Better for Diabetics

Two types of intensive drug treatments have failed to reduce heart attacks in diabetics, researchers report. But one treatment did reduce strokes. One study randomly divided 5,500 diabetics into two groups. One group took TriCor, a pill to lower blood fats called triglycerides and boost HDL (“good”) cholesterol. The other group got placebo (fake) pills. All were given a statin drug to lower their LDL (“bad”) cholesterol. After five years, the two groups had similar rates of heart attack and stroke. In another study, about 4,700 diabetics received pills to lower systolic blood pressure. This is the top number in a blood pressure reading. One group aimed to push systolic pressure below 140. People with systolic blood pressure above 140 are said to have high blood pressure. The other group aimed for lower than 120.