Studies Examine Actos and Avandia Side Effects

Deerfield, ILTwo recently published studies have examined Actos side effects and Avandia side effects. One study found that the link between Actos and heart failure was less than the link between Avandia and heart failure. The other study found a greater risk of fracture in people taking Actos over those taking other diabetes medications, including Avandia..

The first study, conducted in Canada, was published in the British Medical Journal in August, 2009. Researchers in the study analyzed prescription information for close to 40,000 patients aged 66 and older who took Avandia or Actos between April, 2002, and March, 2008. The study showed that 6.9 percent of patients taking Avandia either died or were hospitalized for a heart attack or heart failure, while 5.3 percent of patients taking Actos experienced the same problems.

However, despite these lessened risks, experts note that Actos does still carry a risk of health complications. In an editorial that accompanied the study, experts wrote that patients with heart failure should avoid both Actos and Avandia, and said that it was difficult to draw other conclusions from the study. They noted that patients who took Avandia had taken it for longer than those who took Actos. Furthermore, the patients taking Actos may have been healthier when the study started.

Meanwhile, a different Canadian study, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, (August, 2009) has found that both Actos (known generically as pioglitazone) and Avandia (known generically as rosiglitazone) are associated with an increased risk of fractures. During the study, researchers examined more than 84,000 type 2 diabetes patients in British Columbia, Canada, and compared the effects of thiazolidinedoines (a group of drugs that includes both Actos and Avandia) with sulfonylureas (a different class of drugs that is also used to treat diabetes).

Researchers found that the use of thiazolidinediones increased the risk of peripheral fractures by 28 percent over the use of sulfonylureas. The study found that Actos increased the risk of fractures in women by 77 percent and increased the risk of fractures in men by 61 percent. Avandia increased the risk of fractures in women by 17 percent but did not appear to increase the risk of fractures in men.

"Both men and women who take thiazolidinediones could be at increased risk of fractures," the study's authors wrote. "Pioglitazone [Actos] may be more strongly associated with fractures than rosiglitazone [Avandia]. Larger observational studies are needed, and fracture data from clinical trials need to be fully published so that fracture risks can be known with greater certainty."