Actos Side Effects Could Include Eye Disease

San Diego, CAA new study suggests Actos side effects could include an increased risk of eye disease. This is in addition to a reported link between Actos and bladder cancer, and a possible link between Actos and heart failure.

The study was presented in June at the American Diabetes Association's annual meeting. According to Bloomberg (06/24/11), the study found that patients who took Actos had three to six times the increased risk of developing diabetic macular edema, a condition that can result in blindness. Patients with diabetic macular edema experience swelling and thickening in the retina, which ultimately damages the retina and can lead to vision loss.

Researchers recommended that patients with a risk of diabetic macular edema should avoid Actos and Avandia (a drug in the same class as Actos).

This is not the first time Actos has been linked to diabetic macular edema. In 2003, results of a retrospective study found that use of drugs in the glitazone class (which includes Actos and Avandia) could result in an increased risk of diabetic macular edema. The study was presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology and reported by Medscape (11/19/03). According to the article, patients included in the study had clinically significant macular edema in at least one eye and also had lower extremity edema.

Researchers found that once glitazone use was stopped, lower extremity edema reversed and patients lost weight. Furthermore, patients experienced a reduction of diabetic macular edema within one to two years of discontinuing medication.

In 2008, a case study published in Vascular Health and Risk Management shared the story of a 30-year-old woman who developed severe diabetic macular edema after using pioglitazone (the generic name for Actos). The patient had proliferative diabetic retinopathy prior to beginning pioglitazone therapy, but did not have diabetic macular edema. Researchers noted that within two weeks of beginning pioglitazone therapy, the patient developed severe diabetic macular edema in both eyes, as well as experiencing weight gain.

Within two weeks of stopping pioglitazone use, the patient's vision had improved, but she still had severe diabetic macular edema. The edema was finally resolved with the application of half a usual dose of a diuretic.

At the time, researchers recommended that physicians treating patients who complain about decreased vision after starting pioglitazone therapy should consult an ophthalmologist.