About half of the patients were given fenofibrate, a drug available generically and sold as Antara, Fenoglide, Lipofen and others. The other half got fake pills. After five years, 115 patients had at least one lower limb amputation because of diabetes.
Diabetes can damage nerves and blood vessels. In severe cases, this leads to amputation. About one diabetes patient in 10 loses part of a leg.
The study, first published in 2005, aimed to see if fenofibrate prevented heart disease. It didn't.
But in this new analysis, experts found patients on fenofibrate had a 36 percent lower risk of a first amputation than those on placebo.
Patients who lost part of their legs were more likely to have heart disease, smoking, skin ulcers or previous amputations. Amputations were labeled minor if they were below the ankle and major if they were above the ankle.
The risk of minor amputations in patients without large vessel disease, the narrowing of blood vessels, was nearly 50 percent lower in the group taking fenofibrates. The risk of a major amputation was not substantially different between the two groups. Taller people were also more likely to suffer amputations.
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