Cardiovascular safety of rosiglitazone and pioglitazone

Rosiglitazone and pioglitazone belong to thiazolidinediones(TZD)insulin sensitizers, mainly used for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. Rosiglitazone was restricted to use or withdrawn from the market due to possibly increased cardiovascular events in 2010, and then was released for insufficient evidence in 2013. The large prospective clinical trial and Meta-analysis indicated that pioglitazone has cardiovascular protective effect, since the drug reduced risk of myocardial infarction/ stroke/death of patients with type 2 diabetes. The different cardiovascular risk of rosiglitazone and pioglitazone maybe related to the differences in effect on lipid metabolism or in gene regulation. Key words: Rosiglitazone; Pioglitazone; Cardiovascular system; safety