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Comparative safety and efficacy of insulin degludec with insulin glargine in type 2 and type 1 diabetes: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

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Abstract

Aims

To determine the safety and efficacy of insulin degludec versus glargine in patients with type 1 (T1D) and type 2 (T2D) diabetes mellitus.

Methods

Databases were searched until July 5, 2017. We included randomized controlled trials comparing degludec with glargine in diabetic patients, each with a minimum of 16 weeks of follow-up.

Results

Eighteen trials with 16,791 patients were included. Degludec was associated with a statistically significant reduction in risk for all confirmed hypoglycemia at the maintenance treatment period [estimated rate ratio (ERR) 0.81; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.72‒0.92; P = 0.001], nocturnal confirmed hypoglycemia at the entire (ERR 0.71; 95% CI 0.63‒0.80; P < 0.001) and maintenance treatment period (ERR 0.65; 95% CI 0.59‒0.71; P < 0.001), all irrespective of the pooled diabetic populations and follow-up durations. The differences in the rate of hypoglycemia were more pronounced in nocturnal period and maintenance period and in T2D than T1D patients. Degludec reduced the incidence of severe hypoglycemia in T2D [ERR 0.65; (0.52; 0.89); P = 0.005] but not T1D patients. HbA1c concentration was slightly higher in degludec over glargine but was not clinically relevant [estimated treatment difference (ETD) 0.03; 95% CI − 0.00 to 0.06%; P = 0.06]. Fasting plasma glucose level was lower in degludec-treated patients (ETD − 0.28 mmol/L; 95% CI − 0.44 to − 0.11 mmol/L; P = 0.001). Several subgroup analyses showed largely consistent findings. The rates of adverse events including total mortality and cardiovascular events were not significantly different between two treatment strategies.

Conclusions

Insulin degludec appears to have better safety in reducing hypoglycemic events with similar efficacy compared with insulin glargine.

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Funding

The work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81600312). The funders had no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, writing of the report, and decision to submit the article for publication.

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Author notes

  1. Xiao-Wen Zhang and Xin-Lin Zhang were co-first authors.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Endocrinology, Affiliated Drum Tower Hospital, Nanjing University School of Medicine, Nanjing, China

    Xiao-Wen Zhang

  2. Department of Cardiology, Affiliated Drum Tower Hospital, Nanjing University School of Medicine, 321 Zhongshan Road, Nanjing, 210008, Jiangsu Province, China

    Xin-Lin Zhang, Biao Xu & Li-Na Kang

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  1. Xiao-Wen Zhang
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Correspondence to Li-Na Kang.

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All of the eligible articles included in the meta-analysis stated that they had obtained informed consent from participants.

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Zhang, XW., Zhang, XL., Xu, B. et al. Comparative safety and efficacy of insulin degludec with insulin glargine in type 2 and type 1 diabetes: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Acta Diabetol 55, 429–441 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00592-018-1107-1

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