Current medical research and opinion
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Multicenter Study
Association between hypoglycemia risk and hemoglobin A1C in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.
To better manage type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), the tradeoff between improved glycemic control and hypoglycemia should be evaluated. The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship between hypoglycemia and hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) in a real-world population. ⋯ Lower HbA1c level was associated with higher hypoglycemia prevalence among S.U.-treated patients. HbA1c level should be taken into consideration when reporting hypoglycemia prevalence.
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Comparative Study
Comparison of acarbose and metformin therapy in newly diagnosed type 2 diabetic patients with overweight and/or obesity.
To compare the efficacy of acarbose and metformin in overweight and/or obese patients with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). ⋯ Twenty-four weeks of therapy with acarbose and metformin induced similar reductions in HbA1c and body weight, but acarbose showed superior efficacy in improving islet α-cell function compared with metformin in overweight/obese patients with newly diagnosed T2DM. However, more large-sample, multicenter, randomized controlled trials are needed to evaluate the efficacy, safety, cost-effectiveness, and glycemic variability of the two drugs.
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Cyclooxygenase (COX) 1 and 2 enzyme up-regulation is involved in the pathogenetic process of actinic keratosis (A.K.) and non-melanoma skin cancers. Diclofenac, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory (N.S.A.I.D.) drug, is used as topical treatment of A.K. Piroxicam is a N.S.A.I.D. characterized by a high COX-1 inhibition activity. ⋯ Our experience suggests that 6 month topical piroxicam 0.8% is efficacious and well tolerated in A.K. Clinical efficacy is maintained 1 year post-treatment. The main limitation of our study is that it was an open label non-controlled trial. Future controlled trials are warranted in order to compare the efficacy and tolerability of this topical piroxicam preparation with standard treatments in the management of A.K.