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FDA Approves Trulicity to Reduce Heart Disease Risks in Type 2 Diabetics

From Reuters:

“Eli Lilly and Co said on Friday the U.S. Food and Drug administration has approved Trulicity for reducing cardiovascular risk factors in type 2 diabetic patients.

The approval makes Trulicity the first and only type 2 diabetes drug approved to reduce heart related risks in adults with and without established cardiovascular disease, the company said in a statement.”

This is significant news for any cardiovascular patient with type 2 diabetes! Since 2014, Trulicity has been the number one prescribed medication for type-2 diabetes, and now it is the first and only type 2 diabetes medicine approved to reduce the risk of Major Adverse Cardiac Events (MACE).

What does this mean for you?

Today, more than 34 million Americans have diabetes (about 1 in 10), and approximately 90-95% of them have type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes most often develops in people over age 45, but more and more children, teens, and young adults are also developing it.

This is worrying for cardiologists, with previous research demonstrating a strong link between diabetes and heart disease. Although type 2 diabetes is treatable and glucose levels controllable, patients are still at a significant risk of heart disease and stroke, as highlighted in the statistics below:

  • At least 68% of people age 65 or older with diabetes die from some form of heart disease
  • Adults with diabetes are 2-4x more likely to die from heart disease than adults without diabetes
  • The American Heart Association considers diabetes to be one of the seven major controllable risk factors for cardiovascular disease

With the approval of this medication, diabetic patients should now have a better chance to live longer, happier lives. Curious to learn more about whether Trulicity is right for you? Talk to your primary care doctor and cardiologist to learn more. Likewise, make sure you maintain your healthy habits like a good diet, exercise, and getting quality sleep each night to maximize your chances at preventing heart disease.

The Time of Day You Take Warfarin Might Not Matter

The Time of Day You Take Warfarin Might Not Matter

For most patients who are prescribed the blood thinner warfarin, doctors have recommended that it be taken at night to maximize its effect. However, according to a new study by doctors at the University of Alberta, the time of day that patients take warfarin might not matter.

In this study, doctors randomly assigned 217 patients to take their warfarin in either the morning or the evening. Over the course of 7 months, doctors and researchers tracked the amount of time that patients’ blood levels were outside warfarin’s effective range. What they found was no significant difference in effectiveness based on whether the drug was taken during the day or at night.

What does this mean for you?

Despite these recent findings, it’s important that you continue to take your warfarin as prescribed. Warfarin is a difficult drug for doctors to manage, as its usage can vary greatly from patient to patient depending on their diet and other medications they’re taking. This is one of the main reasons you see more and more doctors prescribing newer anticoagulants, like Xarelto and Eliquis, where they don’t require frequent blood tests and are affected less by diet and other drugs.

That said, warfarin is still the preferred drug for many patients, especially those with mechanical heart valves or clotting not from heart problems. If you think another anticoagulant might be right for you, don’t hesitate to talk to your cardiologist and learn more.

You can schedule an appointment online by following this link and filling out the form.

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