Study diabetes drugs increase the risk of bladder cancer massively

Patients should be better informed about the effects of diabetes medications
Normally, the drug is said to help pioglitazone control blood sugar levels in type 2 diabetes patients. However, a medical examination has found that pioglitazone also increases our risk of bladder cancer. Diabetes type 2 patients should be urgently informed about any effects of the drug.

Pioglitazone is used to control blood sugar levels in patients with type 2 diabetes. However, the drug seems to have an undesirable side effect. Researchers found in a large study that the intake of pioglitazone leads to an increase in bladder cancer risk. The researchers published the results of their study in the journal British Medical Journal (BMJ).

Taking the diabetes type 2 drug pioglitazone may increase our chance of having bladder cancer by about 63 percent. (Image: Syda Productions / fotolia.com)

Taking pioglitazone increases the chance of bladder cancer by 63 percent
A drug designed to help patients with type 2 diabetes control blood sugar levels also increases the risk of bladder cancer. By taking the chance for the development of bladder cancer increases by about 63 percent, warn the doctors. The results of the large study show that the intake of pioglitazone is associated with an increased risk for the development of bladder cancer, explained the lead author. Laurent Azoulay from the Jewish General Hospital in Montreal.

Experts review the data of 145,806 patients
The Canadian researchers investigated the relationship between taking the drug and a number of bladder cancer cases. These occurred in patients who took the drug during a previous study, the physicians explain. Since then, there have been several studies on this topic, some with quite contradictory results. The experts examined data from 145,806 patients from the UK Clinical Practice Research database. The patients had taken the drug between the years 2000 and 2013. In 2000, pioglitazone was launched with another drug. The follow-up examinations ended in July 2014. In total, a bladder cancer disease was detected in 622 subjects in these follow-up studies, say the experts.

Patients need to be better informed about the effects of medication
The team of Canadian researchers found that the drug pioglitazone is associated with an increased risk of bladder cancer compared to other antidiabetics. The risk increases with the duration of use and the dose of the drug, say the doctors. There was no such increased risk of taking rosiglitazone. However, this drug was withdrawn from the market in 2010 because it may increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, including heart attack and heart failure. A type 2 diabetes disease affects about three million people in England and Wales alone and there is currently no cure for the disease, the doctors explain. The disease could lead to sequelae such as blindness, stroke, kidney failure and amputation of the limbs. On the other hand, every year in England and Wales alone about 10,000 people are diagnosed with bladder cancer. More than 5,000 of those affected die from the disease. Patients should be better informed about the risks, so they can choose whether or not to continue taking the drug, explain the researchers.

Results should have an impact on the prescription of diabetes medications
A separate study from Nottingham University found that our risk of kidney disease and blindness was increased, depending on the combination of anti-diabetic medication a patient took. Although the drug metformin significantly reduces the risk of severe kidney disease, it increases the likelihood of blindness by almost 50 percent, say the doctors. The current results could affect the prescriptions of drugs. Doctors and patients should be aware of the overall risks and benefits of diabetes medications in order to better assess them, the researchers concluded. (As)