Cardiovascular safety of type 2 diabetes medications: Review of existing literature and clinical implications.

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), cardiovascular disease (CVD) and the cardiovascular effect of antidiabetic drugs are today critical medical issues, with the prevalence of T2DM in particular showing a steep increase worldwide, mainly due to unhealthy lifestyle habits. T2DM in association with obesity and other cardiovascular risk factors, results in the development of CVD, the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in patients with T2DM. Thus, treatment of T2DM is an individualized and complex challenge in which targeting cardiovascular risk factors is an important component in the decision making. Given the cardiovascular adverse events associated with rosiglitazone, both the Food and Drug Administration and the European Medicines Agency currently require the demonstration of cardiovascular safety of new antidiabetic drugs. Consequently, clinical trials to guarantee their cardiovascular safety are now obligatory. This review aims to summarize the available evidence on the cardiovascular effects and safety of the major drugs used in T2DM treatment and also to provide an overview of upcoming and ongoing clinical trials in this field. Our belief is that this review will be of substantial assistance to all medical doctors who are treating diabetic patients, namely primary care physicians, internal medicine doctors, endocrinologists, diabetologists and less well experienced personnel such as young doctors in training.