DPP4 Inhibitors in the Management of Hospitalized Patients With Type 2 Diabetes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Clinical Trials.

INTRODUCTION: We studied the effects of dipeptidyl peptidase 4 (DPP4) inhibitors on glycemic control in non-critically ill patients admitted to hospital. METHODS: We searched MEDLINE and EMBASE for published studies in English up to July 2019. We included randomized clinical trials (RCTs) that compared DPP4 inhibitors plus insulin supplementation versus basal-bolus insulin regimen in the management of hyperglycemia non-critically ill patients with type 2 diabetes admitted to hospital. Mean difference (MD), relative risk (RR), and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were generated to interpret the data. RESULTS: Of 401 papers, four RCTs including 648 participants met inclusion criteria. There was no significant difference in mean daily blood glucose level between the two groups (MD 4.63; 95% CI = - 1.57, 10.83; p = 0.14) (I2 = 14%, p = 0.32). Total insulin dose per day was lower in patients receiving DPP4 inhibitors (MD - 14.27; CI = - 22.47, - 6.07; p = 0.001) (I2 = 92%, p = 0.001). Also, the number of insulin injection was significantly lower in patients receiving DPP4 inhibitors (MD - 0.79; CI = - 1.01, - 0.57; p = 0.001) (I2 = 0%, p = 0.68). The rate of hypoglycemia was not significantly different between the two groups (RR 0.60, CI = 0.34, 1.074; p = 0.08) (I2 = 37.3%, p = 0.18). Treatment failure was not significantly different between the two groups (RR 0.87, CI = 0.64, 4.8; p = 0.38) (I2 = 49%, p = 0.11). CONCLUSION: The results indicate that using DPP4 inhibitors plus basal or supplemental insulin in hospitalized patients is non-inferior to a standard basal-bolus insulin regimen and leads to a lower amount of insulin use and a lower rate of insulin injection. Limitations of this study were heterogeneity of baseline characteristics of included patients, small sample size, short duration, and non-uniformly defined outcome assessment parameters in the included studies.

Nitric oxide and TNF-α are correlates of diabetic retinopathy independent of hs-CRP and HbA1c.

PURPOSE: Regarding the role of inflammation in progression of diabetes this study was conducted to investigate the association between inflammatory biomarkers such as nitric oxide (NO), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) with the chance of existence of diabetic retinopathy and its progression in patients with diabetes. METHODS: A total of 83 patients with T2DM (Type 2 diabetes mellitus) were divided into three groups of patients with proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR), patients with non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDR) and patients without diabetic retinopathy (NDR) based on ophthalmologic funduscopic examination. Twenty six healthy controls were also enrolled. Blood samples were taken after 12 h of overnight fasting, NO, TNF-α, and hs-CRP were measured. Association of the level of these biomarkers with retinopathy was analyzed. RESULTS: The levels of TNF-α, NO and hs-CRP were higher among patients with diabetic retinopathy. Multinomial Logistic Regression model showed that TNF-α and NO could predict the presence of retinopathy among patients with diabetes when adjusted for hs-CRP, HbA1c, FBS, gender, total cholesterol, triglyceride, HDL, LDL, BMI, and age (respectively OR = 1.76, CI 95% = 1.01-3.02, p = 0.046 and OR = 1.12, CI 95% = 1.05-1.18, p < 0.001); however they could not predict the severity of retinopathy. In ROC analysis AUC for TNFα was 0.849 (p < 0.001) and for NO was 0.907 (p < 0.001). Serum TNF-α level of 7.10 pmol/L could be suggestive of the presence of retinopathy (sensitivity = 92.2% and specificity = 66.0%), also serum NO level of 45.96 µmol/L could be suggestive of the presence of retinopathy (sensitivity = 96.1% and specificity = 86%). CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest elevated levels of NO and TNF-α can be suggestive of diabetic retinopathy.