• Nir Barzilai, Hua Guo, Erin M Mahoney, Suzanne Caporossi, Gregory T Golm, Ronald B Langdon, Debora Williams-Herman, Keith D Kaufman, John M Amatruda, Barry J Goldstein, and Helmut Steinberg.
• Merck Research Laboratories, Rahway, NJ 07065-0900, USA.
• Curr Med Res Opin. 2011 May 1; 27 (5): 104910581049-58.

ObjectiveType 2 diabetes in the elderly is an important and insufficiently studied public health problem. This study evaluated sitagliptin monotherapy in patients with type 2 diabetes aged ≥ 65 years.Research Design And MethodsThis was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group study conducted at 52 sites in the United States. Patients were treated with once-daily sitagliptin (100 or 50 mg, depending on renal function) or placebo for 24 weeks. Key endpoints included change from baseline in glycated hemoglobin (HbA(1c)), 2-hour post-meal glucose (2-h PMG) and fasting plasma glucose (FPG) at week 24, and average blood glucose on treatment days 3 and 7.Clinical Trial RegistrationNCT00305604.ResultsAmong randomized patients (N = 206), mean age was 72 years and mean baseline HbA(1c) was 7.8%. At week 24, HbA(1c) decreased by 0.7%, 2-h PMG by 61 mg/dL, and FPG by 27 mg/dL in sitagliptin-treated patients compared with placebo (all p < 0.001). On day 3 of treatment, mean average blood glucose was decreased from baseline by 20.4 mg/dL in sitagliptin-treated patients compared with placebo (p < 0.001). In subgroups defined by baseline HbA(1c) <8.0% (n = 132), ≥ 8.0% to <9.0% (n = 42), and ≥ 9.0% (n = 18), the placebo-adjusted reductions in HbA(1c) with sitagliptin treatment were 0.5%, 0.9%, and 1.6%, respectively. Patients in the sitagliptin and placebo groups had similar rates of adverse events overall (46.1% and 52.9%, respectively); serious adverse events were reported in 6.9% and 13.5%, respectively. No adverse events of hypoglycemia were reported. Potential study limitations include a relatively small number of patients with more severe hyperglycemia (HbA(1c) ≥ 9.0%) and the exclusion of patients with severe renal insufficiency.ConclusionIn this study, sitagliptin treatment significantly and rapidly improved glycemic measures and was well tolerated in patients aged ≥ 65 years with type 2 diabetes.

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