Combination of Two Common Medications May Increase Blood Glucose Levels

The increase is more pronounced in people who are diabetic, and in whom the control of blood sugar levels is particularly important.

A widely used combination of two common medications may cause increases in blood glucose levels, according to a study conducted at the Stanford University School of Medicine, Vanderbilt University and Harvard Medical School.

The increase is more pronounced in people who are diabetic, and in whom the control of blood sugar levels is particularly important. It's also apparent in pre-diabetic laboratory mice exposed to both drugs. The researchers speculate that between 500,000 and 1 million people in this country may be taking the two medications simultaneously.

The researchers' study relied on an adverse-event reporting database maintained by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and on sophisticated electro