NEW YORK, July 27: Patients taking either of the diabetes drugs Avandia or Actos face twice the risk of developing heart failure compared to people not on the popular medications, a new study whose finding were reported on Friday and published in the August issue of Diabetes Care..

This means for every 50 patients with type 2 diabetes taking these drugs, one patient will develop heart failure within 26 months, the report said.

“Both Avandia and Actos double the risk of heart failure,” concluded the lead author of the first study, Dr Sonal Singh, an assistant professor of internal medicine at Wake Forest University School of Medicine. “We know these drugs increase the risk, but we found the risk is more substantial than suspected. This occurs at even the lowest dose and among young patients.”

Last month a report from England warned health care professional and patients to avoid prescribing or using Avandia which increases risks of a heart attack.