The effect of basal analog insulin on the glycemic variability in type 2 diabetics

Abstract

Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of insulin detemir and glargine on glycemic variability as determined by capillary blood glucose measurements in Type 2 diabetics treated with oral antidiabetic drugs.Material and Method: A total of 64 insulin-naive type 2 diabetics with a HbA1c level of 7.5%-10% were included in the study. The patients were randomized into 3 groups according to the basal insulin analog started; Group 1 (n=22) was started on once-daily detemir, Group 2 (n=22) twice-daily detemir, and Group 3 (n=20) insulin glargine. Basal insulin doses were titrated according to the morning/evening fasting capillary blood glucose levels. Standard deviations of the 8-point intraday fasting and postprandial blood glucose values were compared.Results: The fasting blood glucose intraday standard deviation values showed an improvement of 22.4% in Group 1, 21.4% in Group 2, and 26.4% in Group 3, while the intraday standard deviation for the postprandial values showed an improvement of 14.4%, 15.2%, and 38.7%, respectively (p>0.05). The standard deviation values did not show statistical significance when the groups were compared with each other. Baseline HbA1c values and insulin doses negatively correlated with the glycemic variability.Dicussion: Basal insulin added to treatment in Type 2 diabetics provided an improvement of 14.4% to 38.7% in glycemic variability. There was no significant difference between insulin glargine and detemir regarding this effect.