Background: In insulin-treated patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), glycemic control is usually suboptimal.
Methods: This study compared the risks of mortality and cardiovascular events in insulin-treated patients adding or not adding alpha-glucosidase inhibitors (AGIs).
Results: This cohort study included data from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database. In total, 17,417 patients newly diagnosed as having T2DM and undergoing insulin therapy during 2000-2012 were enrolled. Overall incidence rates of all-cause mortality, hospitalized coronary artery disease (CAD), stroke, and heart failure were compared between 4165 AGI users and 4165 matched nonusers. The incidence rates of all-cause mortality were 17.10 and 19.61 per 1000 person-years in AGI nonusers and users, respectively. Compared with nonusers, AGI users had a higher mortality risk [adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) = 1.21, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.05-1.40; p = 0.01]. Regarding AGI use, aHRs (95% CI) for cardiovascular death, non-cardiovascular death, hospitalized CAD, stroke, and heart failure were 1.20 (0.83-1.74), 1.27 (1.07-1.50), 1.12 (0.95-1.31), 0.98 (0.85-1.14), and 1.03 (0.87-1.22) respectively.
Conclusion: AGI use was associated with higher risks of all-cause mortality and non-cardiovascular death in insulin-treated patients with T2DM. Therefore, adding AGIs in insulin-treated patients may not be appropriate.
Keywords: All-cause mortality; Alpha-glucosidase inhibitors; Cardiovascular death; Coronary artery disease; Insulin.