Contrary to previous papers that showed diabetes the drug Avandia (rosiglitazone) causing more heart problems than its chief rival Actos (pioglitazone), a new study found that the risk for heart attack, heart failure or death caused by taking either drug was about the same &mdash around 4%.

The study, which was conducted by a subsidiary of the insurance company Wellpoint and published in the journal Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes, examined the records of nearly 29,000 diabetes patients for 33 months.

Some commentators have pointed out that the average age of the patients in the Wellpoint study was 54 years old, whereas a study appearing this year in the Journal of the American Medical Association sounding the alarm on Avandia examined patients who averaged about 74 years old.

A sharply divided FDA panel voted last month to keep Avandia on the market, but to append additional warnings to its prescription information.