A Comparison of Bedtime Insulin Glargine with Bedtime Neutral Protamine Hagedorn Insulin in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes: Subgroup Analysis of Patients Taking Once-Daily Insulin in a Multicenter, Randomized, Parallel Group Study

ABSTRACT Background Basal insulin is frequently administered once daily. This subgroup analysis of a multicenter, randomized, parallel study compared insulin glargine (Lantus Aventis Pharmaceuticals, Bridgewater, NJ) with neutral protamine Hagedorn (NPH) insulin in patients with type 2 diabetes, evaluating only patients treated previously with once-daily NPH insulin. Methods Patients received bedtime insulin glargine or NPH insulin, with preprandial regular insulin. One hundred patients (mean age, 57.9 years; mean glycohemoglobin, 8.4%; mean fasting blood glucose, 167 mg/dL) were treated for up to 28 weeks. Results Patients treated with insulin glargine (n = 52) and NPH insulin (n = 48) achieved similar reductions from baseline in glycohemoglobin (−0.41% versus −0.46%) and fasting blood glucose (−22 mg/dL versus −22 mg/dL) at week 28. The proportion of patients reaching target fasting blood glucose ( P P Conclusion Bedtime insulin glargine is as effective as bedtime NPH insulin in improving glycemic control, with significantly less hypoglycemia.