Acceso usuarios
M. I. Sánchez-Barba Izquierdo, J.M. Ibarra Rueda, Ricardo Ruiz de Adana Pérez
Objectives. Principal: to show that the addition of metformin to insulin treatment in type-2 DM obese patients with poor metabolic control (HbA1c>7.5%) causes a 50% increase after one year in the number of patients with acceptable (HbA1c¾7.5%) or good (HbA1c<6.5%) control, and to determine how many patients reduced their HbA1c by a point. Secondary: to determine the relationship between the BMI at the start of treatment and the difference between HbA1c values before and after treatment.
Design. Quasi-experimental before-and-after intervention study.
Setting. Diabetes clinic at the San Carlos Hospital, consisting of patients referred from primary care.
Patients. 31 obese people with type-2 DM and with poor metabolic control (HbA1c>7.5%) in spite of insulin treatment were chosen by consecutive sampling as they attended for consultation. Three people left due to their intolerance of metformin.
Interventions. Metformin was added progressively over a year in total doses of 1.7 mg. All those parameters considered in diabetes control were measured, the main criterion of evaluation being the HbA1c figures.
Measurements and results. Patients with poor metabolic control changed from 100% at the start of the study to 42.9% after a year (p=0.0000). There was a 1.75% mean reduction of HbA1c. 78.57% of patients reduced their HbA1c by a point. The relationship between the BMI before the start of treatment and the HbA1c difference at the start and end gave a Pearson´s correlation coefficient of r = 0.39 (p=0.04).
Conclusions. Adding metformin to the treatment of obese type-2 DM patients with poor metabolic control and on insulin treatment improved their control.
