Using fenofibrate to lower blood fats in people with diabetes reduces the risk of a first diabetes-related amputation by 36 per cent. This is among the conclusions of the FIELD study, reported in an article in this week's diabetes special issue of The Lancet.
Professor Anthony Keech and Dr Kushwin Rajamani, from the NHMRC Clinical Trials Centre, University of Sydney, and colleagues, analysed data from 9795 diabetic patients aged 50-75 who took part in the FIELD study - a randomised controlled trial. Patients received either fenofibrate 200mg day (4895) or placebo (4900) for five years.
Information on amputation - a prespecified tertiary endpoint of the trial - was routinely gathered. Amputations were deemed minor if below the ankle and major if above the ankle. They were also classified on whether or not large-vessel disease was present in the limb, to distinguish amputations related to large-artery atherosclerosis from those related to diabetic microvascular disease.