Diabetes Treatment Raises Cholesterol Ratio

A new study has found that the type 2 diabetes treatment rosiglitazone increased high-density lipoprotein (HDL, or "good") cholesterol levels and improved the ratio of total cholesterol to HDL cholesterol in patients with type 2 diabetes. Data from the study were presented recently at the Annual Scientific Session of the American College of Cardiology.

In the study?which analyzed the results of open-label extensions of 2 placebo-controlled, double-blind studies?a total of 269 patients were given 8 mg of rosiglitazone daily for 24 months. In all the patients, mean HDL cholesterol levels increased by 15%, with increases of 25% in patients with HDL cholesterol levels <40 mg/dL at baseline.The ratio of cholesterol to HDL cholesterol improved for all the patients, with an overall decrease from 5.06 to 4.7 over 2 years. In patients with a ratio >5, the mean ratio decreased from 6.25 to 5.6.