Certain Antibiotics Linked to Blood Glucose Swings

By Diane Fennell People with diabetes who take a certain class of antibiotics are more likely to experience severe swings in blood glucose, according to new research from Taiwan. Previous research and case reports have raised concern about the possibility of severe high and low blood glucose associated with the use of fluoroquinolones, a class of antibiotics that includes ciprofloxacin (brand name Cipro), levofloxacin (Levaquin), and moxifloxacin (Avelox). One drug in this class, gatifloxacin (Tequin), was removed from the US market due to the risk of blood glucose fluctuations. To assess the risk of severe blood glucose swings in people with diabetes taking these medicines, researchers looked at data from approximately 78,000 people in Taiwan. Specifically, they looked at the subjects' use of three classes of antibiotics — fluoroquinolones, cephalosporins (cefuroxime [Ceftin, Zinacef], cefaclor [Ceclor], or cefprozil [Cefzil]), and macrolides (clarithromycin [Biaxin] or azithromycin [Zithromax, AzaSite, Zmax]) — along with their rates of emergency-room visits or hospitalizations for severe blood glucose swings in the 30 days after starting the antibiotics. Over the 23-month study period, hospital records indicated that 215 people had had severe high blood glucose while 425 had experienced severe low blood glucose. The researchers found that people who had taken fluoroquinolones were more likely to have developed severe blood glucose swings than those who h...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - Category: Diabetes Authors: Source Type: blogs