Free Republic

NEW ORLEANS — The cardiovascular mortality rate was more than fivefold higher in type 2 diabetic patients who possessed the haptoglobin 2-2 genotype than in those who did not in a large, prospective, Israeli study. Another analysis based on the same study population showed that tight glycemic control reduced the incidence of myocardial infarction—but only in those type 2 diabetic patients with the haptoglobin 2-2 genotype. Taken together, these findings suggest an important role for haptoglobin genotyping in assessing cardiovascular risk and guiding management strategies in patients with type 2 diabetes, Dr. Uzi Milman said at the annual scientific sessions...

ORLANDO — Vitamin E has finally fulfilled its promise as an antioxidant that can slow the progression of cardiovascular disease. Patients with diabetes who also had the haptoglobin 2–2 genotype and who were treated with 400 IU of vitamin E daily for 18 months had about half the incidence of cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, and stroke, compared with patients who received placebo in a study with 1,434 patients that was done in Israel, Dr. Shany Blum reported at the annual scientific sessions of the American Heart Association. Further analysis showed that the benefit was concentrated in patients with poorly controlled...