Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 17, 2026

A Zebrafish Model of Diabetes Mellitus and Metabolic Memory
Published on: February 28, 2013
Thiazolidinediones and the risk of incident strokes in patients with type 2 diabetes: a nested case-control study
Laurent Azoulay1, Verena Schneider-Lindner, Sophie Dell'aniello
1McGill Pharmacoepidemiology Research Unit, Division of Clinical Epidemiology, Sir Mortimer B. Davis Jewish General Hospital, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Purpose:
To determine whether the use of thiazolidinediones (TZDs) decreases the risk of incident strokes in patients with type 2 diabetes.
Methods:
We conducted a nested case-control study within a population-based cohort from the UK General Practice Research Database (GPRD). The cohort comprised patients over the age of 40 who were prescribed a first oral hypoglycemic agent between 1 January 1988 and 30 June 2008. Cases included all subjects who experienced a first stroke during follow-up. Up to 10 controls were matched to each case on age (+/-2 years), sex, date of cohort entry (+/-1 year), and duration of follow-up. Rate ratios (RRs) of stroke associated with TZD use, including rosiglitazone and pioglitazone, relative to combinations of other oral hypoglycemic agents, were estimated using conditional logistic regression.
Results:
The cohort comprised 75 717 users of oral hypoglycemic agents, of whom 2417 had a stroke during follow-up. The rate of stroke in users of TZDs given as monotherapy (RR: 1.20, 95%CI: 0.77, 1.86) or in combination with other oral hypoglycemic agents (RR: 0.78, 95%CI: 0.58, 1.04) was not lower than combinations of other oral hypoglycemic agents. The RRs were similar for rosiglitazone and pioglitazone.
Conclusions:
The results of this study indicate that TZDs do not appear to decrease the incidence of first strokes.
Related Concept Videos
Oral Hypoglycemic Agents: Biguanides and Glitazones
Diabetes Mellitus: Type 2 and Gestational
Type II Diabetes I: Introduction
Type II Diabetes Mellitus III: Clinical Manifestations and Diagnosis
Type II Diabetes II: Pathophysiology
Type I Diabetes II: Pathophysiology