Patients on Basal Insulin Remain Uncontrolled After Initiation, Require Intensification

A poster presentation at the AMCP 2017 Annual Meeting found that patients who manage their type 2 diabetes with basal insulin remain uncontrolled after 6 months, requiring intensification of treatment. 

“Basal  insulin  is  an  important  component  of  the treatment strategy in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. However, many patients remain sub-optimally controlled after initiating basal insulin,” Michelle Mocarski, MPH, director of HEOR at Novo Nordisk, Mitch DeKoven, principal of HEOR at QuintilesIMS, and colleagues wrote in their presentation. 

The researchers analyzed data on 427 adults with type 2 diabetes who newly started basal insulin from the QuintilesIMS PharMetrics Plus heal plan claims and electronic health records data. 

They found that after initiating basal insulin, 81% of remained in poor glycemic control with a mean basal insulin dose of 31.0 units. Among these uncontrolled patients, 88% intensified treatment after follow up. However, after 6 months of increased basal insulin dose, 92% of patients remained uncontrolled.

“The vast majority of patients remained uncontrolled in the 6 months following basal insulin initiation,” Ms Mocarski and colleagues concluded. “Subsequently, most patients failed to achieve glycemic targets despite intensification with basal insulin. This suggests a substantial unmet need  for effective treatment  intensification  among type 2 diabetes mellitus patients  treated  with basal insulin who remain uncontrolled.”

This study was funded by Novo Nordisk. —David Costill