Diabetes In Control. A free weekly diabetes newsletter for Medical Professionals. News and information for Medical Professionals.
Editor's Note
The addition of mealtime insulin to a patient’s diabetes regimen can definitely increase the risk of hypoglycemia. This can be exacerbated if the patient is not counting carbs or doing before-meal glucose checks.
This month in our special edition we look at the value of using an SGLT-2 Inhibitor instead of meal time insulin in patients with type 2 diabetes. This article can be backed up by the information from the package insert of canagliflozin, which indicates that 100 grams of glucose can be off loaded through the kidneys on a daily basis.
If I look back to my pump training days, for an obese patient we would likely use an insulin to carb ratio of 1 unit for every 6 carbs. Is it possible to use this formula to state that taking an SGLT-2 Inhibitor like canaglifozin can reduce insulin use by 16- 17 units in a similar patient? Let me know what you think?
Dave Joffe
Editor-in-chief
One-year results of North American inTandem1 study show decreased HbA1c levels and lower risk of severe hypoglycemia.
Adding an SGLT2 inhibitor to insulin therapy for patients with type 2 diabetes who’d required large doses of insulin helped them reduce their insulin dose.
An SGLT-2 inhibitor reduces liver fat and ALT levels in people who have type 2 diabetes.
After reviewing evidence, a tool to evaluate benefit and risk has been developed for the use of sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors.