Type 2 diabetics who take phosphodiesterase inhibitors 5, such as sildenafil (viagra) for erectile dysfunction, could be reducing their risk of suffering a myocardial infarction and increasing the possibilities of surviving an event of this type, according to a studySponsored by the British Heart Foundation and the National Institute of Health Research of the United Kingdom, whose results are published in Heart.

A team from the University of Manchester analyzed the electronic records, between June 2007 and May 2015, of almost 6,000 men with diabetes between 40 and 89 years.The 1,359 men who took the drugs, against those who did not.It was also seen that there was a lower percentage of heart attacks and that among those who had a history of these attacks or had suffered one during the follow -up, the chances of death were significantly reduced.

For researcher Andrew Trafford, from the aforementioned center, which had already described this possible beneficial effect in cellular models, the results reaffirm the therapeutic potential of phosphodiesterase inhibitors.