Common diabetes drugs raise odds for amputation

Paris, Oct. 2: Patients taking diuretics, also known as “water pills”, have an increased risk of various problems with their feet and legs, a study has revealed, the Daily Mail reports.

People with diabetes already suffer more serious foot and lower leg conditions because the condition causes nerve damage and reduces circulation.

But diuretic medications could push this risk “significantly” higher because they reduce the amount of blood flowing round the body, experts warn.

People with type 2 diabetes who take diuretic medication, which can be used to lower blood pressure, could be up to 2.3 times more likely to need a lower limb amputation because of their condition, according to French researchers.

Research by the Assistance Publique — Hôpitaux de Paris discovered the link between the drugs and lower limb problems.

Amputations of the feet and lower legs are a serious concern for people with type 2 diabetes.

And they are more likely to need blood vessels in their legs bypassed or widened with surgery because of poor circulation.

People with the condition suffer more problems because a combination of nerve damage and bad blood flow mean small wounds can either go unnoticed or take a long time to heal, increasing the risk of infection and gangrene.

People with diabetes are far more likely to need their toes or feet amputated because their injuries do not heal normally.

High blood sugar can cause nerve damage which means patients cannot feel their skin as well and may not know when they have a wound, or feel how serious it is.

And diabetes restricts circulation in the legs, which slows down healing because oxygen and nutrients are in short supply.

The combination of these two factors means it can take longer for people to get over injuries and the healing time means there is more opportunity for it to become infected or for flesh to die because of gangrene.

If an injury becomes too infected or untreatable the affected part of the body may have to be cut off.

In a study which followed 1,459 diabetics for seven years until December 2015, 13 per cent of diuretic users ( 85 out of 670) had a serious problem with their legs.

Meanwhile, only seven per cent of those not taking the drugs had a similar problem.

An even more specific breakdown compared 537 medicine users with 537 non- users who were otherwise similar.

Lead author Dr Louis Potier said: “Among patients with type 2 diabetes treated with diuretics, there was a significant increase in the risk of lower limb events.”