Actos and Bladder Risks
Ask your PCP or endocrinologist about Actos and bladder cancer.
If you are have had blood in your urine or if either you or your doctor is concerned about bladder cancer, call for an appointment. Urinalysis, cancer-screening exams and cystoscopy are all relatively simple, outpatient tools we utilize in this office allowing diagnosis or reassurance.
Pioglitazone May Increase Risk Of Bladder Cancer In Patients With Type 2 Diabetes.
HealthDay (7/4, Gordon) reported, “Taking pioglitazone (brand name Actos) raised the risk of bladder cancer by about one-fifth, according to a new analysis” of ten studies published online July 3 in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.
“Any use of a thiazolidinedione was associated with a nonsignificant 45% higher risk in the pooled randomized trials and a significant 15% elevated risk across the observational studies,” MedPage Today (6/4, Phend) reported. “Pioglitazone users had pooled risk ratios ranging from 1.22 to 4.30,” researchers reported. The article also pointed out that in 2011, the Food and Drug Administration “warned…of a further increase in bladder cancer risk with pioglitazone, now reflected in the drug’s product label.”