Additional drug helps reduce complications in diabetes

Reported by Susan Aldridge, PhD, medical journalist

Preliminary results suggest that patients with type 2 diabetes benefit from the addition of spironolactone to their treatment.
Kidney disease is one of the most common complications for patients with type 2 diabetes. One of the first signs of kidney disease is albuminuria - the presence of albumin in the urine. A new study from researchers at the Cleveland Clinic, Ohio, reveals that treatment with a low dose of spironolactone can reduce albuminuria among patients with type 2 diabetes who are at risk.

Spironolactone is an aldosterone antagonist and is already known to reduce mortality among patients with heart failure. Aldosterone is a hormone released by the adrenal glands. In the current study, a preliminary one, spironolactone was added to angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor treatment in a group of patients with type 2 diabetes. Urine tests showed that this led to reduction of albuminuria and, therefore, would also be expected to reduce the risk of kidney disease. Thus spironolactone appears to be a safe and effective method of preventing complications in type 2 diabetes.

Source
American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists meeting 26th April 2006

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