The findings add to concerns raised in May, when researchers showed rosiglitazone use was associated with a 63 per cent increased risk of death from a cardiovascular cause.
Data was analysed on 159,026 patients, aged 66 and over, who were treated for type-2 diabetes. Four-year follow up revealed that 7.9 per cent of patients had a hospital visit for heart failure and 19 per cent died of a cardiovascular cause.
Compared with other combination oral hypoglycaemic agent treatments, such as metformin, patients taking rosiglitazone had a 60 per cent increased risk of congestive heart failure, a 40 per cent increased risk of heart attack and a 29 per cent increased risk of cardiovascular death.
Dr Allastair Benbow, European medical director for GSK, the company that manufactures rosiglitazone (Avandia), said that there was a wealth of data to back up its use.
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