Efficacy and safety of glimepiride as initial treatment in newly-diagnosed patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus : sub-group analysis of GREAT study / 中华内分泌代谢杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To analyze the efficacy and safety of glimepiride treatment as initial monotherapy in newly diagnosed patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).Methods This was a subgroup analysis of the GREAT study,which investigated the efficacy and safety of glimepiride as initial monotherapy in Chinese patients with T2DM.This analysis was performed in 209 patients with disease duration less than 6 months and never received any anti-diabetic drugs.The change of HbA1C,fasting plasm glucose (FPG),2 h postprandial blood glucose (2hPPG),homeostasis model assessment for β-cell function index (HOMA-β),homeostasis model assessment for insulin-resistance index(HOMA-IR),the percentage of patients with HbA1C ＜ 7.0％ at endpoint and the incidence of hypoglycemia were evaluated after 16-weeks treatment.Results After 16-weeks glimepiride treatment,HbA1C value reduced significantly from baseline to endpoint,the reduction was statistically significant (9.21％ ± 1.65％ to 6.69％±0.83％,P＜0.001),69.7％ of the patients achieved HbA1C ＜7.0％ at study endpoint.Glimepiride-treated patients also achieved a significant improvement in FPG [from (10.15 ± 2.13) mmol/L to (7.23 ± 1.50) mmol/L,P＜0.001] and 2hPPG [from (17.21 ±4.14) mmol/L to (11.62 ± 3.34) mmol/L].HOMA-β was improved from 17.21± 15.19 [11.62 (2.90,115.8)] to 41.13 ± 44.12 [28.00 (5.1,360.00)],and HOMA-IR was reduced from 2.32± 1.90 [1.76 (0.60,12.80)] to 2.07 ± 1.74 [1.63 (0.4,12.3)].The incidence of all reported symptomatic hypoglycemia was 18.2％,and the incidence of confirmed hypoglycemia was 3.8％.Conclusion This analysis showed that glimepiride treatment as an initial mono-therapy could effectively improve blood glucose control in newly diagnosed patients with T2DM,and the treatment may improve islet β cell function,and the safety profile is reasonably good.