The use of long-acting insulin degludec in adult patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus in real clinical practice in Russia

BACKGROUND: Effective glycaemic control remains the most important task in managing the risks of Diabetes type 2 complications development. In this regard, the choice of insulin preparations with minimal variability of action is of utmost importance since this approach allows achieving the maximum treatment effectiveness and adequate safety level.AIM: The aim of this study was to investigate insulin degludec treatment effect on glycemic control in adult patients with Diabetes Mellitus (DM) type 2 in a real-world clinical setting in the Russian Federation.MATERIALS AND METHODS: The open prospective study was conducted in 2020–2021 in 35 clinical centers in 31 cities of the Russian Federation. The study included adult patients with type 2 DM treated according to Russian routine clinical practice. The prospective follow-up period was 26 weeks. The main study endpoints were changes in HbA1c level, fasting plasma glucose, insulin daily doses, number, and characteristics of different types of hypoglycaemia episodes and adverse events (AEs), and patient preferences compared to previous treatment.RESULTS: The study enrolled 494 patients. By the end of follow-up period:The mean HbA1c decrease was 1.6% (p<0.0001).Fasting plasma glucose level decreased by 3.4 mmol/L (p<0.0001).Daily basal and prandial insulin doses decreased by 1.6 IU/day (p<0.0001) and 2.1 IU/day (p<0.01), respectively.Severe episodes of hypoglycemia did not occur, while the incidence of nonsevere episodes decreased significantly.76 patients (15.4%) had 105 AEs, of which 41 (in 33 patients, 6.7%) were serious.COVID-19 was the most frequent AE reported in 21 patients (4.3%).Only in one case insulin degludec was withdrawn due to the patient’s pregnancy and the AEs that arose from it.Most patients (98.6%) preferred insulin degludec to previous treatment.CONCLUSION: The study demonstrated a statistically significant improvement in glycemic control, accompanied by basal insulin dose decrease combined with the absence of severe episodes of hypoglycemia, and significant decrease of nonsevere episodes (total and nocturnal). These results led to a large proportion of patients wanting to continue insulin degludec treatment preferring the medicine over previous treatment.