WEDNESDAY, Nov. 20, 2002 (HealthDayNews) -- The anticoagulant drug enoxaparin should be used to treat heart attack victims who have diabetes.
That's the recommendation of a Duke University Medical Center study presented today at the American Heart Association's scientific sessions meeting in Chicago.
The study was a sub-analysis of data from an earlier study that compared the effectiveness of different agents used to restore blood flow to people after they've had a heart attack.
After looking at that data and coupling the information with cost and ease of use, the Duke researchers concluded the drug enoxaparin was most suitable for diabetics who have a heart attack.
When people with heart attack are brought to a hospital emergency room, doctors try to restore blood flow to the heart, usually with drugs that dissolve clots in the coronary arteries.
The Duke researchers found that while treatment with enoxaparin resulted in a trend toward recurrent heart attacks and chest pain in diabetic heart attack patients, it was more likely to prevent death than another drug called abciximab.
More information
The American Heart Association has more information about the link between diabetes and cardiovascular disease.