Influence of the dynamics of body weight on the risk factors of cardiovascular disease in patients with type 2 diabetes during the first year of insulin treatment

The aim of the present study was to investigate whether insulin treatment-induced weight gain had an adverse impact on cardiovascular risk factors in insulin-treated type 2 diabetic patients during the first year after initiating insulin therapy when insulin analogues or human insulins are used. A total of 157 patients with newly insulinized type 2 diabetes were included in the study. The patients were divided in two groups. First group consisted of subjects (mean age 57 [45; 73], duration of diabetes of 10 years [4; 16]) who had received long-acting basal (glargine, detemir), premixed (biphasic insulin aspart 30, Humalog Mix 25) or short-acting (aspart, lispro) insulin analogues. Patients from second group (mean age 59 [46; 75], duration of diabetes of 10 years [5; 15]) were treated with intermediate-acting basal (Protophane, Humulin NPH insulin), premixed (biphasic human insulin 30, Humulin M3) and regular (Actrapid, Humulin R) human insulins. Our study has shown that insulin-induced weight gain may not adversely affect cardiovascular risk factors, particularly, lipid profile, in insulin-treated type 2 diabetic patients during the first year after initiating insulin therapy. Use of insulin analogues for treatment of type 2 diabetes patients results in better glycaemic control, significant declines in blood lipid concentrations, less increase in waist circumference compared with human insulins during the first year after initiating insulin therapy.