It has been found that million of people with type diabetes will have an increased risk of cardiac failure if they continue to use the two drugs commonly prescribed to treat type 2 diabetes. This has been suggested by the researchers in US and Britain.

After reviewing research studies and case reports on over 78,000 patients, the researchers explain that the risk of heart failure may be as much as 100% higher in patients receiving thiazolinediones - Avandia® and Actos® are thiazolinediones.

The researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine, USA, and the University of East Anglia, United Kingdom considered the two drugs Avandia (rosiglitazone), manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline, and Actos (pioglitazone), and produced by Takeda, which are used to treat type II diabetes. In this type of diabetes the body does not make enough of the hormone insulin, or the cells in the body do not react properly to the hormone. The drugs, which sensitize the body to insulin and lower blood sugar levels, were hailed as a major advance in the fight against the disease.

One in every 50 patients taking either Avandia or Actos over a 26-month period would suffer heart failure and need admission to hospital. The researchers said the drugs could be responsible for additional thousands of cases of heart failure each year.

Sonal Singh, M.D., lead author, said "These drugs have been used by more than 3 million diabetic patients in the U.S. alone, suggesting that several thousand could be harmed." She suggested that fluid retention may be triggering heart failure in some susceptible people - these drugs cause fluid retention.