Diabetes patients are at an increased risk of developing cardiovascular conditions. A recent study has further confirmed the association and the research team has developed a blood test based on biomarkers that might detect heart attacks and kidney disease in patients with Type 2 diabetes.
In the newest study, published within the American Heart Association journal Circulation, researchers evaluated the blood samples of greater than 2,600 participants and identified 4 specific biomarkers related to the severity of future heart and kidney complications.
Biomarkers are measurable characteristics of the body that function warning signs of health disorders.
The participants were a part of a trial evaluating the effect of the diabetes drug canagliflozin in reducing the severity of heart and kidney complications. Researchers measured the biomarkers within the blood samples of the participants initially of the study, after one yr and after three years. Based on the outcomes, they were then categorized into low, medium and high-risk categories.
Individuals with high concentrations of the biomarkers originally of the study had greater severity of heart and kidney issues throughout the three-year follow-up period.
“On this study, the biomarkers were used to measure baseline and the way canagliflozin affected the biomarkers for up to 3 years follow up, in addition to taking a look at the association between the biomarker concentrations and their changes from yr to yr to predict cardiovascular and kidney outcomes,” said Dr. James Januzzi, study lead writer and a professor of drugs at Harvard Medical School.
“Provided that the American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology and the American Diabetes Association now all recommend measurement of biomarkers to reinforce the flexibility to predict risk in individuals with Type 2 diabetes, these results may considerably extend the reach of biomarker-based testing, refining accuracy even further,” Januzzi added.
Participants who took canagliflozin had lower levels of biomarkers after one yr and three years in comparison with those that took a placebo, suggesting the effectiveness of the drug in reducing the chance of complications in diabetes patients.
“It was reassuring to find that canagliflozin helped reduce risks essentially the most in individuals with the best possibilities for complications. Future studies are needed to higher understand how Type 2 diabetes along with kidney disease develops and progresses in order that we may initiate life-saving therapies earlier before symptoms of heart and kidney disease have occurred,” Januzzi said in a news release.
Published by Medicaldaily.com