Thursday, June 28, 2007

Telmisartan Staves Off Overt Diabetic Nephropathy

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Jun 27 - The angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) telmisartan may prevent the transition from incipient to overt nephropathy in patients with type 2 diabetes, according to a report in the June Diabetes Care.
Previous research has demonstrated long-term renoprotection with ARBs in Caucasians, the authors explain, but this is the first such study in Japanese patients with type 2 diabetes.
Dr. Hirofumi Makino from Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine, Japan and colleagues in the INNOVATION Study Group evaluated the efficacy of telmisartan in preventing transition from microalbuminuria to overt diabetic nephropathy in 527 Japanese patients ranging in age from 30 to 74 years.
During a mean follow-up of 1.3 years, transition rates to overt nephropathy were significantly lower with telmisartan 40 mg (22.6%) and telmisartan 80 mg (16.7%) than with placebo (49.9%), the authors report.
Differences were similar among normotensive patients, the results indicate.
Microalbuminuria remission at final observation was markedly higher among patients treated with telmisartan 40 mg (12.8%) and telmisartan 80 mg (21.2%) than among placebo-treated patients (1.2%), the researchers note.
"Overall," the investigators conclude, "telmisartan reduced transition from incipient to overt nephropathy and induced remission of albuminuria in Japanese type 2 diabetic patients."
Diabetes Care 2007;30:1577-1578.

No comments: