Type 2 diabetes patients who are exposed to anti-inflammatory medication such as aspirin or statins are more than twice as likely to lose weight as those who are not, suggest investigators.

Both obesity and Type 2 diabetes have been linked to chronic inflammation and higher levels of various inflammatory markers. It has therefore been suggested that anti-inflammatory medications such as aspirin and statins may have a positive influence on obesity in Type 2 diabetic patients.

In this study, Mona Boaz (E Wolfson Medical Center Holon, Israel) and colleagues compared exposure to anti-inflammatory medication between a group of 100 Type 2 diabetes patients who lost weight (mean weight loss 3.3 kg) and 102 Type 2 diabetes patients who maintained or gained weight, over a 1-year follow-up study.

Anti-inflammatory medication consisted of aspirin ??” mean dose 78.7 mg/day, statins ??” mean dose 12.3 mg/day, or both.

As reported in the journal Diabetic Medicine, 79% of the study population overall were exposed to anti-inflammatory medication over the study period, with the proportion higher in those who had lost weight compared with those who had not at 85.0% versus 71.5%, respectively.

Boaz and team calculated that participants who had been exposed to anti-inflammatory medication during the follow-up period were 2.14-fold more likely to have lost weight than individuals who had not. This relationship was still valid after adjusting for age, gender, baseline body mass index, years since diagnosis, and comorbidities.

Individuals who were exposed to anti-inflammatory medication were older, had longer diabetes duration, and a greater prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors such as dyslipidemia, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease. The authors caution that this may be an alternative explanation for the increased weight loss seen in this group as they may have had more nutrition advice and incentive to lose weight than the other patients.

“The present findings underline the need to conduct a randomized, placebo controlled clinical trial including measures of anti-inflammatory treatment and dietary compliance to more definitively ascertain the role of anti-inflammatory treatment exposure on weight loss in obese Type 2 diabetic patients,” conclude the researchers.

MedWire (www.medwire-news.md) is an independent clinical news service provided by Current Medicine Group, a part of Springer Science+Business Media. © Current Medicine Group Ltd; 2009

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