Effect of rosiglitazone and ramipril on macrovasculopathy in patients with type 2 diabetes: needs longer treatment and/or higher doses?

t of rosiglitazone and ramipril on macrovasculopathy in patients with type 2 diabetes: needs longer treatment and/or higher doses? Original Research (3079) Total Article Views Authors: Sayeeda Rahman, Aziz Al-Shafi Ismail, Shaiful Bhari Ismail, et al Published Date April 2010 Volume 2010:2 Pages 83 - 87 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.2147/CPAA.S8863 Sayeeda Rahman1, Aziz Al-Shafi Ismail2, Shaiful Bhari Ismail3, Nyi Nyi Naing4, Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman5 1Department of Clinical Sciences, School of Life Sciences, University of Bradford, Bradford, UK; 2Department of Community Medicine, 3Department of Family Medicine, 4Unit of Biostatistics and Research Methodology, School of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 16150 Kubang Kerian, Kelantan, Malaysia; 5Cyberjaya University College of Medical Sciences 63000 Cyberjaya Malaysia, Malaysia Introduction: The aim of the study is to investigate whether standard doses of rosiglitazone (4 mg/daily) and ramipril (5 mg/daily) can reverse pre-clinical macrovasculopathy in newly diagnosed never treated type 2 diabetes (T2DM) patients. Methods: In this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study, 33 T2DM patients were randomized to rosiglitazone (4 mg/daily) or ramipril (5 mg/daily) or placebo for 1 year. Hemodynamic variables were measured at 3 treatment phases and pulse wave velocity (PWV) and augmentation index (AI) were measured throughout the treatment period. Result: In diabetic patients, PWV (P = 0.037) and AI (P = 0.005) with ramipril and AI (P < 0.001) with rosiglitazone were significantly reduced during overall treatment period from the baseline; however, these differences were not significant in comparison to placebo. Discussion and conclusion: The present study showed that treatment with standard doses of rosiglitazone and ramipril are not adequate to reverse pre-clinical vasculopathy in T2DM. The lack of benefit in newly diagnosed T2DM may be because of the relatively short-term intervention and/or the use of lower doses of rosiglitazone/ramipril. Further trials are needed for a longer period of time, possibly with higher doses, to show whether rosiglitazone/ramipril can reverse pre-clinical vasculopathy in T2DM (ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00489229).