A recently developed drug for diabetes patients — Empagliflozin — can help in the treatment of heart failure in both diabetics and non-diabetics.
The findings of the clinical trial were published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. It revealed that this medication can improve the heart’s size, shape, and function. It also leads to better exercise capacity and quality of life. This may further reduce hospitalisations for heart failure patients
Also read:Massive surge in diabetes queries amid Covid-19: Practo
Author Carlos Santos-Gallego from Mount Sinai Hospital in the US: “Our clinical trial’s promising results show this diabetes drug can ameliorate lives of heart failure patients with reduced ejection fraction, enhance their exercise capacity, and improve their quality of life with little to no side effects.”
“Our study also identifies why this drug is effective: because it improves heart function, something that has not been understood until now,” Santos-Gallego added.
Also read:Polypill saves lives, cuts heart-related incidents by up to 40%: Study
Notably, the researchers mentioned that this drug did not seem to trigger hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar, in non-diabetic patients.
Trial
For the trial, researchers enrolled 84 patients with chronic heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (EF) — the percentage of blood the left ventricle pumps with each contraction
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.