URI seeks diabetics taking Lipitor

SOUTH KINGSTOWN – A University of Rhode Island researcher is recruiting 55 diabetics who take Lipitor for a study funded by the American Heart Association to compare the cholesterol-fighting drug’s effects on people with and without the disease.
Fatemeh Akhlaghi, URI associate professor of biomedical and pharmaceutical sciences, has been awarded a $200,000 grant for the study. She has already recruited non-diabetics and is now seeking diabetics ages 18 to 65.
Participants must be willing to have their blood drawn at URI Health Services or at a South County Hospital laboratory in South Kingstown. After signing up, subjects will be asked to visit one of the labs between 8 and 11 a.m. on a mutually convenient day.
Subjects will also be asked to complete a questionnaire on their use of medications other than Lipitor. They will be paid $40.
Lipitor is the most frequently prescribed drug to treat high cholesterol. It is particularly effective compared with other drugs in its class – statins – but also far more expensive.
Akhlaghi said the effects of Lipitor, also known by the generic name of atorvastatin, on diabetics have never been studied, but initial lab studies suggest that diabetics may be less able to metabolize the drug, and that can lead to severe muscle pain.
Up to 7 percent of patients treated with statins exhibit symptoms of muscle toxicity, according to Akhlaghi, and 0.5 percent develop potentially fatal severe muscle breakdown. Epidemiological evidence suggests severe muscle problems requiring hospitalization are three times more common in diabetics, she said.
To participate in the study, contact Akhlaghi at (401) 874-2899 or e-mail diabetesstudy@etal.uri.edu.