Linagliptin plus insulin for hyperglycemia immediately after renal transplantation: A comparative study.

AIMS: Post-renal-transplanted patients frequently present hyperglycemia immediately after the procedure. The goal of this work was to evaluate the effect of linagliptin + insulin in post-renal-transplanted patients with hyperglycemia. METHODS: Retrospective comparative study in post-renal transplanted patients with hyperglycemia after transplantation who were treated with linagliptin 5 mg daily plus insulin vs insulin alone for 5 days after renal transplantation with hyperglycemia. Main outcomes were glucose levels, insulin dose and severity of hypoglycemia. RESULTS: There were 14 patients treated with linagliptin + insulin and 14 patients treated only with insulin. Glucose levels and insulin doses were lower in the linagliptin + insulin group in comparison with the insulin alone group, 131.0 ±â€¯15.1 vs 191.1 ±â€¯22.5 mg/dl (7.27 ±â€¯0.84 vs 10.61 ±â€¯1.25 mmol/l) and 37.5 ±â€¯6.3 vs 24.2 ±â€¯6.6 U, respectively (p < 0.05). Hypoglycemia was less severe in the linagliptin + insulin group, 65.1 ±â€¯2.2 vs 54.2 ±â€¯3.3 mg/dl (3.61 ±â€¯0.12 vs 3.00 ±â€¯3.3 ±â€¯0.18 mmol/l), p 0.036. CONCLUSIONS: The combination of linagliptin + insulin provided better glycemic control with a lower insulin dose and less severe hypoglycemia in comparison to insulin alone in patients with hyperglycemia immediately after renal transplantation.