Is Inhaled Insulin Better Than Oral Diabetes Drugs?
“Surprisingly effective despite its short duration of action” is the verdict on inhaled insulin.
In a 12-week study of 309 patients at 48 outpatient centers, researchers compared inhaled insulin (alone or added to dual oral therapy) with dual-agent therapy alone. Inhaled insulin was administered within 10 minutes before meals. At the 12th week, both of the patient groups receiving inhaled insulin experienced statistically significantly greater reductions in mean glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1C) levels, compared with the dual-agent patients. The value of inhaled insulin seems greater, the researchers say, when it is used with oral agents.
For the patients using inhaled insulin along with two oral agents, the HbA1C concentration dropped 1.9 percentage points, from 9.2%. buy prevacid
For the patients using inhaled insulin monotherapy, HbA1C dropped by 1.4 percentage points; for patients using the oral drugs, HbA1C fell by only 0.2 percentage point.
In addition to improving postprandial glucose control, inhaled insulin reduced fasting plasma glucose concentrations. Its glucose-lowering effect extended beyond the postprandial period. This effect has also persisted in other studies, but the reasons are not clear.
Hypoglycemia, mild weight gain, mild cough, and insulin antibodies were more common with inhaled insulin.
