Switching to multiple daily injection therapy with glulisine improves glycaemic control, vascular damage and treatment satisfaction in basal insulin glargine‐injected diabetic patients

Background Basal and bolus insulin therapy is required for strict blood control in diabetic patients, which could lead to prevention of vascular complications in diabetes. However, the optimal combination regimen is not well established. Methods Fifty-nine diabetic patients (49 type 1 and 10 type 2; 52.9 ± 13.3 years old) whose blood glucose levels were uncontrolled (HbA1c > 6.2%) by combination treatment of basal insulin glarginewith multiple daily pre-meal injections of bolus short-acting insulin[ aspart(n = 19), lispro (n = 37) and regular human insulin (n = 3)] for at least 8 weeks were enrolled in this study. We examined whether glycaemic control and vascular injury were improved by replacement of short-acting insulinwith glulisine. Patient satisfaction was assessed with Diabetes Treatment Satisfaction Questionnaire. Results Although bolus and basal insulin doses were almost unchanged before and after replacement therapy, switching to glulisine insulin for 24 weeks significantly decreased level of HbA1c, advanced glycation end products( AGEs), soluble receptor for AGEs (sRAGE), monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) and urinary albumin excretion. In multiple stepwise regression analysis, change in MCP-1 values from baseline (ΔMCP-1) was a sole determinant of log urinary albumin excretion. ΔAGEs and ΔsRAGE were independently correlated with each other. The relationship between ΔMCP-1 and ΔsRAGE was marginally significant (p = 0.05). Replacement of short-acting insulinby glulisine significantly increased Diabetes Treatment Satisfaction Questionnaire scores. Conclusions Our present study suggests that combination therapy of glargine with multiple daily pre-meal injections of glulisine might show superior efficacy in controlling blood glucose, preventing vascular damage and improving treatment satisfaction in diabetic patients. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.