People who suffer from Type II diabetes usually die from problems with their blood vessels, so doctors often prescribe drugs that lower blood pressure. And, according to a study conducted by researchers in Edmonton, Alberta, it looks as if those drugs might actually do something.

What the researchers wanted to know: Does using the drugs known as ACE inhibitors help patients with Type II diabetes and no cardiovascular disease?

What they did: Researchers used the Saskatchewan health databases to identify 1,187 newly diagnosed Type II diabetics who were prescribed ACE inhibitors, which reduce blood pressure by relaxing blood vessels. (Patients who had previous cardiovascular disease were not included.) The study started following those patients, and a control group of people who weren't taking the drugs, between 1991 and 1996 and tracked them all through the end of 1999 or until they died, whichever came first.

What they found: The drugs seemed to help. Three percent of the group on ACE inhibitors died of cardiovascular disease, compared with 5 percent of the control group; the difference was statistically significant. Patients in the control group tended to be older, and more were men—both risk factors for cardiovascular disease—but even after controlling for those and other risk factors, patients on ACE inhibitors were a little less likely to die.

What this study means to you: ACE inhibitors are widely prescribed to diabetics, so it's good to know that they're probably helping.

Caveats: Since the data came from prescription records, researchers didn't know if patients actually took their meds. And they also didn't know everything about each subject's cardiovascular risk factors.

Find out more: Learn about ACE inhibitors at the National Library of Medicine, and read more about diabetes at the American Diabetes Association's website.

Read the article: Eurich, D.T. et al. "Reduced Mortality Associated With the Use of ACE Inhibitors in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes." Diabetes Care. June 2004, Vol. 27, No. 6, pp. 1330–1334.