Combination treatment of insulin with oral hypoglycaemic agents in patients with type 2 diabetes millitus

Abstract

The recently published guidelines from the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) on the management of blood glucose in type 2 diabetes and the NICE guidelines on the use of the long-acting insulin analogue, glargine, have brought to the fore the use of combination therapy of insulin with oral hypoglycaemic agents (OHAs). The NICE guidelines recommend that when a patient with type 2 diabetes is failing to achieve satisfactory glycaemic control with OHAs alone, Insulin should be initiated in combination with OHAs. However, evidence for this approach is less than robust and combination treatment of OHAs with insulin remains a controversial area. This article presents the evidence for different insulin regimens in patients who have secondary failure to OHAs, including combination therapy with basal Insulin. The evidence and potential drawbacks of such regimens are discussed. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.