Patients Benefit with Inhaled Insulin

If diet and exercise do not help achieve adequateblood sugar control, inhaled insulin worksfor patients with type 2 diabetes. A study reportedin Diabetes Care (August 2005) included 402patients with type 2 diabetes who had inadequatecontrol of blood sugar based on diet and exercise.The purpose of the investigation was to determinewhether administration of inhaled insulin prior tomeals would prove more beneficial than rosiglitazonetreatment in lowering blood sugar.

The researchers found that significantly morepatients receiving inhaled insulin achieved ahemoglobin A1C (HgA1C) target goal of <8%,compared with patients taking rosiglitazone(82.7% vs 58.2%, respectively). Also, morepatients taking inhaled insulin achieved HgA1Clevels of <7% (44% vs 17.9%).

Insulin use was linked with a higher number oflow-blood-sugar episodes. The researchers notedno severe low-blood-sugar episodes in either treatmentgroup, however. Furthermore, reductions infasting plasma glucose and 2-hour postmeal sugarlevels were alike in the 2 treatment groups. Yet, the24-hour self-monitored blood sugar improvementswere better in the inhaled-insulin group.