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Source: ONE News -
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Long-acting insulin works better than other types of injections
for people who need more than pills for their type 2 diabetes,
researchers reported.
Long-acting Levemir insulin, given at bedtime, and NovoRapid
insulin injections, given three times a day before meals,
controlled insulin levels best in patients not doing well with the
daily pills alone, the study found.
They were compared to results with twice-daily injections of
NovoMix 30 in diabetes patients taking the pills metformin and
sulfonylurea.
Drugmaker Novo Nordisk sponsored the trial of diabetes patients in
Britain and Ireland and made all the insulin products tested.
The goal was to bring glycated hemoglobin levels - a measure known
as a1c -- down to 6.5%.
This gives doctors an idea of insulin levels over the long
term.
Dr Rury Holman of the Oxford Centre for Diabetes, Endocrinology and
Metabolism in Britain and colleagues watched their 708 patients for
three years.
Most did need extra insulin to control their diabetes - ultimately,
68% to 82% of the patients needed to added a second type of insulin
to keep their blood sugar low.
The long-acting insulin helped about 45% of the patients, while
only 32% of those who got twice-daily shots of NovoMix 30
controlled their insulin well, the researchers reported in the New
England Journal of Medicine.
But the patients who got the three insulin injections a day were
more likely to gain weight and more than three times as likely to
have an episode where their blood sugar dipped too low, compared to
those who took the long-acting insulin, the researchers
found.
Potentially dangerous hypoglycemia incidents were nearly doubled
among patients who received the twice-daily injections.
