Comparison on efficacy and safety of two regimens for treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus: glargine plus metformin versus neutral protamine hagedorn plus metformin / 生物医学工程学杂志

This is a work aimed to investigate the efficacy and safety of the combination of metformin with glargine or with neutral protamine Hagedorn in treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Sixty such patients with poor glycemic control by oral antidiabetic drugs were included and divided into group A and group B. Thirty patients in group A were treated with glargine and metformin, and the other 30 patients in group B were treated with neutral protamine Hagedorn and metformin for 12 weeks. Fasting plasma glucose (FPG), postprandial glucose(PPG) and HbA1c were measured before and after the treatment. Hypoglycemia was also noted. At the end of the study, the levels of FPG, PPG and HbAlc were significantly lower than the baseline levels in the two groups (P < 0.05). At the 12th week, the percentage of HbAlc < 7% in group A was 53.3% and that in group B was 40.0%; statistically, there was no significant difference (P > 0.05). After the end of the treatment, there was no significant difference in that the percentage of HbA1c < 7% was 70.6% in group A and 62.5% in group B; the two groups' HbA1c levels were > or = 7%-9% at the baseline (P > 0.05). No sigificant difference in respect to the incidence rate of hypoglycemia in the two groups was noted (P > 0.05). In the cases of type 2 diabetes mellitus with poor glycaemic control by oral antidiabetic drug, glucose and HbA1c can be lowered further by the combination of metformin with glargine or with neutral protamine Hagedorn, the incidence rate of hypoglycemia is low. Metformin plus glargine or plus neutral protamine Hagedorn is a safe and effective therapeutic choice for type 2 diabetes mellitus cases with poor glycaemic control; moreover, metformin plus neutral protamine is a cheaper and effective choice.

Effect of insulin plus rosiglitazone or metformin on serum N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide in type 2 diabetes mellitus: a randomized-controlled study / 生物医学工程学杂志

This study was aimed to compare the effect of insulin plus rosiglitazone with that of insulin plus metformin on the level of serum N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-BNP) in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus, and to find out whether serum NT-BNP can be used as an index for predicting heart failure induced by rosiglitazone in the cases of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Sixty type 2 diabetic patients were recruited and were randomly divided into two groups: group A (n = 30) received insulin plus rosiglitazone (4 mg/d) and group B (n = 30) received insulin plus metformin. The observations covered an 8-weeks' course of treatment. Serum NT-BNP was measured at the beginning and at the end of 8 weeks. The Before-After study revealed that the level of serum NT-BNP did not change apparently in the two groups (P >0.05). There was no remarkable difference in the level of serum NT-BNP between the two groups (P>0.05). There were 3 cases with edema in the group of insulin plus rosiglitazone, but none with heart failure; in these three cases, the mean serum NT-BNP level at the end of the treatment exhibited an increase of 108.99 fmol/ml when compared with that at the beginning. Neither insulin plus rosiglitazone nor insulin plus metformin had apparent effect on the level of serum NT-BNP in the patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. The question of whether serum NT-BNP is a predictive index of heart failure awaits answers given by more observation on type 2 diabetes mellitus patients using rosiglitazone.