A major study of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is just out. It found that those treated with hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) - brand name: Plaquenil - an antimalarial drug also prescribed for RA, are much less likely to develop Type 2 diabetes. The study was conducted over a period of more than twenty years and analyzed the treatment of 4,905 adult patients with RA. Bottom line: relative risk for T2 diabetes declined by up to seventy-seven percent in patients who took HCQ for four years. Wow.

But that's not all. The researchers also say the RA patient who did develop diabetes were less likely to need medications for blood sugar control. Moreover, according to Mary Chester M. Wasko, a rheumatologist and professor of medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, the greatest potential application could come in using HCQ as a preventive for people with pre-diabetic symptoms, "much in the same way as a daily baby aspirin is suggested for people at high risk for heart disease."

This is significant because having RA is a condition that usually leads to reduced activity levels and also to weight gain (as a consequence of taking corticosteroids), and these two factors put them at risk for Type 2 diabetes. So this is good news indeed.

The study was directed by scientists at Stanford University, however, researchers from multiple institutions were involved. Funding was provided by the National Institutes of Health. The report has been published in the latest issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. Click here or here to read more.