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| Weight gain appears to be unavoidable in patients with type 2 diabetes who are switched from oral agents to insulin therapy. Peripheral hyperinsulinism induced by the use of long-acting insulin may be the key to explain this adverse effect. The aim of this study was to investigate whether a regimen free of long-acting insulin can provide long-term glycaemic control without causing weight gain. This is an uncontrolled, 1-year study comprising 58 patients with type 2 diabetes and secondary failure, age 30-75 years, BMI 25-35 kg/m2, HbA1c > 7.5% and fasting C-peptide level > 0.3 mmol/L. All patients were treated with the GAME regimen, a combination of glimepiride administered at 20:00 hours for nocturnal glycaemic control, insulin aspart three times daily for meal-related glucose control and metformin. Seventy-one per cent of the patients were considered evaluable. HbA1c decreased from 10.0 +/- 0.3 to 7.4 +/- 0.1% (p < 0.001). Fifty-nine per cent reached HbA1c levels ≤ 7.5%. Symptomatic nocturnal hypoglycaemia was not reported. Body weight tended to decrease during the first 3 months (-1.0 +/- 0.5 kg, p = 0.06), but then gradually rose to a value 0.8 +/- 0.5 kg higher than at baseline (p = 0.12). This is 4.4 +/- 0.6 kg less than predicted for conventional regimens employing long-acting insulin (p<0.001). The GAME regimen provides long-term glycaemic control as well as stabilization of body weight in about 60% of type 2 patients presenting with secondary failure.
de Boer H, Keizers R, Jansen M, Verschoor L, Ruineman-Koerts J. |
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