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Does Cialis help the heart?

diabetesselfmanagement.com - Cialis May Improve Heart Health in Men With Type 2 Diabetes - DSM

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Taking the widely prescribed erectile dysfunction drug Cialis (tadalafil) is linked to improved heart health in men — but not women — with type 2 diabetes and a heart condition called cardiomyopathy, according to a new study published in the journal Science Translational Medicine. While originally approved for erectile dysfunction in men, Cialis and related drugs are being investigated for other potential benefits — including for cardiovascular health, since they work for their original indication by essentially improving blood flow to the penis. People with diabetes are a natural population for studies involving new uses for erectile dysfunction drugs — since diabetes is linked to several poor health outcomes, studies can look at how taking drugs like Cialis affects areas like kidney function, cardiovascular health, and blood glucose control. In fact, one small pilot study published earlier this year found that in men with type 2 diabetes and erectile dysfunction, taking Cialis daily was linked to slightly improved blood glucose control. To get cutting-edge diabetes news, strategies for blood glucose management, nutrition tips, healthy recipes, and more delivered straight to your inbox, sign up for our free newsletters! For the latest study, researchers were interested in looking at how taking Cialis affected heart health in both men and women with type 2 diabetes and cardiomyopathy — a heart muscle condition that makes it harder to pump blood, in which the heart typically becomes enlarged and undergoes other structural changes. The participants were 122 people ages 45 to 80 with well controlled type 2 diabetes, defined as an A1C level (a measure of long-term blood glucose control) below 10%.

Cialis linked to certain cardiac improvements in men

Participants were randomly assigned to take either 20 milligrams of Cialis or a placebo (inactive pill) daily for 20 weeks. After this period, men who took Cialis experienced an improvement in cardiac torsion — a measure of the heart’s rotation as it beats — by an average reduction of 3.40 degrees, while women did not experience this benefit from taking the drug. Men also saw an average shortening of muscle fiber by 1.19%, while women did not. These measurements were taken by echocardiography, an imaging technique for the heart that uses sound waves to create a real-time moving image. In both men and women, though, taking Cialis improved certain other indicators of heart or kidney health, including certain blood markers that signal improvement in cardiomyopathy, albuminuria (protein in the urine, an indicator of kidney function), and what’s known as the renal artery resistive index (also a measure of kidney function). So it’s possible that taking Cialis could improve cardiovascular outcomes in both men and women with type 2 diabetes, with more pronounced benefits for cardiomyopathy in men with the condition. The researchers concluded that taking drugs in the same family as Cialis “could offer a strategy to target [heart and kidney] complications” of type 2 diabetes, “with sex- and tissue-specific responses.” But more studies are needed to better understand what kinds of cardiovascular problems are most likely to benefit from this treatment, and whether certain benefits are exclusive to men or women. Want to learn more about protecting your heart? Read “Be Heart Smart: Know Your Numbers,” “Does Diabetes Hurt Your Heart?” “Fight Off Heart Disease With These Five Heart-Healthy Foods” and “Lower Your Risk of Heart Disease.”

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