The weight loss drug Reductil has come under renewed scrutiny following reports that woman from New Zealand suffered from a heart attack while using the slimming pill. The forty year old woman suffered the attack at home and was fortunately revived by her husband who happened to be at home.

The drug Reductil can raise blood pressure in some cases and must be taken with care with patients that have heart conditions. In the case of this woman it was later apparent that the woman had a rare and previously undetected genetic cardio disease called long QT syndrome.This genetic heart condition can be passed onto children and it was found later that all four of her children also have the disease.

This case was reported to a medical monitoring program at Otago University that keeps a check on side effects that occur after using certain prescription medicines. This program kept tabs on Reductil side effects and added the woman from New Zealand to the other 65 cases of suspected Reductil side effects.

Reductil has been used by an estimated 17,000 New Zealanders over the 5 years since it has been on sale and it is well known that it puts a strain on the heart and doctors are advised to check blood pressure and for any heart abnormalities before writing out prescriptions for the drug.

The problem with this new side effect is that it may not appear on a normal ECG test. So people who have long QT syndrome can still be prescribed Reductil unwittingly and this is giving doctors cause for concern.

Long QT syndrome is known to be dangerous because it can lie dormant for decades before rearing up when the heart is subjected to a certain type of strain. The risk of suffering from long QT syndrome is between 0.1% and 0.025 so the risk is slight. For most people the risks of the Reductil effecting them negatively are not changed by the study.

Reductil had previously been under a cloud in Italy after 2 women died from heart problems and it was felt that the deaths could have been connected to the use of the drug. It has been given a clean bill of health by the Italian medical authorities after it was considered that the benefits outweighed the dangers to health.

Reductil will now be adding specific warnings regarding the long QT syndrome to its labelling and side effects.