Efficacy and safety of avandamet or uptitrated metformin treatment in patients with type 2 diabetes inadequately controlled with metformin alone: a multicenter, randomized, controlled trial / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>At present, China has listed the compound tablet containing a fixed dose of rosiglitazone and metformin, Avandamet, which may improve patient compliance. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of Avandamet or uptitrated metformin treatment in patients with type 2 diabetes inadequately controlled with metformin alone.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>This study was a 48-week, multicenter, randomized, open-labeled, active-controlled trial. Patients with inadequate glycaemic control (glycated hemoglobin [HbA1c] 7.5-9.5%) receiving a stable dose of metformin (≥1500 mg) were recruited from 21 centers in China (from 19 November, 2009 to 15 March, 2011). The primary objective was to compare the proportion of patients who reached the target of HbA1c ≤7% between Avandamet and metformin treatment.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>At week 48, 83.33% of patients reached the target of HbA1c ≤7% in Avandamet treatment and 70.00% in uptitrated metformin treatment, with significantly difference between groups. The target of HbA1c ≤6.5% was reached in 66.03% of patients in Avandamet treatment and 46.88% in uptitrated metformin treatment. The target of fasting plasma glucose (FPG) ≤6.1 mmol/L was reached in 26.97% of patients in Avandamet treatment and 19.33% in uptitrated metformin treatment. The target of FPG ≤7.0 mmol/L was reached in 63.16% of patients in Avandamet treatment and 43.33% in uptitrated metformin treatment. Fasting insulin decreased 3.24 ± 0.98 μU/ml from baseline in Avandamet treatment and 0.72 ± 1.10 μU/ml in uptitrated metformin treatment. Overall adverse event (AE) rates and serious AE rates were similar between groups. Hypoglycaemia occurred rarely in both groups.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Compared with uptitrated metformin, Avandamet treatment provided significant improvements in key parameters of glycemic control and was generally well tolerated.</p><p><b>REGISTRATION NUMBER</b>ChiCTR-TRC-13003776.</p>

Comparison of parathyroid hormone (1-34) and elcatonin in postmenopausal women with osteoporosis: an 18-month randomized, multicenter controlled trial in China / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>Recombinant human parathyroid hormone (1-34) (rhPTH (1-34)) is the first agent in a unique class of anabolic therapies acting on the skeleton. The efficacy and safety of long-term administration of rhPTH (1-34) in Chinese postmenopausal women had not been evaluated. This study compared the clinical efficacy and safety of rhPTH (1-34) with elcatonin for treating postmenopausal women with osteoporosis in 11 urban areas of China.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>A total of 453 postmenopausal women with osteoporosis were enrolled in an 18-month, multi-center, randomized, controlled study. They were randomized to receive either rhPTH (1-34) 20 µg (200 U) daily for 18 months, or elcatonin 20 U weekly for 12 months. Lumbar spine (L1-4) and femoral neck bone mineral density (BMD), fracture rate, back pain as well as biochemical markers of bone turnover were measured. Adverse events were recorded.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>rhPTH (1-34) increased lumbar BMD significantly more than did elcatonin after 6, 12, and 18 months of treatment (4.3% vs. 1.9%, 6.8% vs. 2.7%, 9.5% vs. 2.9%, P < 0.01). There was only a small but significant increase of femoral neck BMD after 18 months (2.6%, P < 0.01) in rhPTH groups. There were larger increases in bone turnover markers in the rhPTH (1-34) group than those in the elcatonin group after 6, 12, and 18 months (serum bone-specific alkaline phosphatase (BSAP) 93.7% vs. -3.6%; 117.8% vs. -4.1%; 49.2% vs. -5.8%, P < 0.01; urinary C-telopeptide/creatinine (CTX/Cr) 250.0% vs. -29.5%; 330.0% vs. -41.4%, 273.0% vs. -10.6%, P < 0.01). rhPTH (1-34) showed similar effect of pain relief as elcatonin. The incidence of clinical fractures was 5.36% (6/112) in elcatonin group and 3.2% (11/341) in rhPTH (1-34) group (P = 0.303). Both treatments were well tolerated. Hypercaluria (9.4%) and hypercalcemia (7.0%) in rhPTH (1-34) group were transient and caused no clinical symptoms. Pruritus (8.2% vs. 2.7%, P = 0.044) and redness of injection site (4.4% vs. 0, P = 0.024) were more frequent in rhPTH (1-34). Nausea/vomiting (16.1% vs. 6.2%, P = 0.001) and hot flushes (7.1% vs. 0.6%, P < 0.001) were more common in elcatonin group.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>rhPTH (1-34) was associated with greater increases in lumbar spine BMD and bone formation markers. It could increase femoral BMD after 18 months of treatment. rhPTH could improve back pain effectively. The results of the present study indicate that rhPTH (1-34) is an effective, safe agent in treating Chinese postmenopausal women with osteoporosis.</p>

Comparison of HbA1c in Chinese patients with type 1 or type 2 diabetes randomized to twice daily insulin lispro low mix 25 or twice daily human insulin mix 30/70 / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>Glycemic control prevents onset and progression of diabetes-related long-term complications. The objective of this study was to demonstrate that twice daily insulin lispro low mix 25 is noninferior to twice daily human insulin mix 30/70 in achieving glycemic control as measured by hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), from baseline to endpoint, in patients with type 1 or 2 diabetes.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>In this phase IV, crossover, open-label, multicenter study, 117 Chinese patients with diabetes were randomly assigned to one of two treatment sequence groups. One group received 12-week treatment with twice daily human insulin mix 30/70 followed by 12-week treatment with twice daily insulin lispro low mix 25, while the other group received the reverse treatment sequence. HbA1c, baseline-to-endpoint change in HbA1c, proportion of patients achieving target HbA1c <or= 7% and <or= 6.5%, fasting blood glucose, and daily insulin doses were measured for each period. Safety and tolerability were also assessed.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>A statistically significant reduction (P <or= 0.0001) of HbA1c was achieved after each treatment (human insulin mix 30/70: mean HbA1c = 7.91% (95%CI: 7.67%, 8.15%); insulin lispro low mix 25: mean HbA1c = 7.96% (95%CI: 7.72%, 8.20%)). The 95%CI (-0.20, 0.10) of the difference between the two treatments satisfied the prespecified noninferiority margin of 0.3% (lower limit of 95% CI > -0.3%). No statistically significant differences between treatments were observed for any of the secondary efficacy measures. The incidence of treatment-emergent adverse events and hypoglycemia between the two treatments and treatment sequence groups was similar. Three serious adverse events were reported (human insulin mix 30/70 group: 2 patients (1.7%, hypoglycemic coma and cardiac failure); insulin lispro low mix 25 group: 1 patient (0.9%, stroke)). All serious adverse events were resolved and no patients died during the study.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The results support noninferiority of twice daily insulin lispro low mix 25 versus twice daily human insulin mix 30/70 in HbA1c control in Chinese patients with type 1 or 2 diabetes.</p>

A randomized, multicenter controlled trial to compare the efficacy of recombinant human parathyroid hormone (1-34) with elcatonin in postmenopausal women with osteoporosis in China / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>Recombinant human parathyroid hormone (1-34) (rhPTH (1-34)) given by injection is a new seventh class drug of biological products, which is prepared by adopting gene recombination technique. rhPTH (1-34) is mainly used to treat osteoporosis, especially for postmenopausal women. This study compared the clinical efficacy and safety of rhPTH (1-34) with elcatonin for treating postmenopausal women with osteoporosis in 11 urban areas of China.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Two hundred and five women with osteoporosis were enrolled in a 6-month, multicenter, randomized, controlled study. They were randomized to receive either rhPTH (1-34) 20 microg (200 U) daily or elcatonin 20 U weekly. Lumbar spine (L1-4) and femoral neck bone mineral density (BMD), as well as biochemical markers of bone turnover were measured. Adverse events were recorded.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>rhPTH (1-34) increased lumbar BMD significantly more than did elcatonin at 3 months and 6 months (2.38% vs 0.59%, P < 0.05; 5.51% vs 1.55%, P < 0.01), but there were no significant increases of BMD in these two groups at femoral neck. There were larger mean increases in bone markers in the rhPTH (1-34) group than in the elcatonin group at 3 months and 6 months (serum bone-specific alkaline phosphatase (BSAP) 36.79% vs 0.31%; 92.42% vs -0.17%; urinary N-telopeptide/creatinine (NTX/Cr) 48.91% vs -5.32%; 68.82% vs -10.86%). Both treatments were well tolerated and there were no significant differences detected between the two groups in the proportion of any adverse events and any serious adverse events (67.0% vs 59.0%; 0 vs 0).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>rhPTH (1-34) has more positive effects on bone formation, as shown by the larger increments of lumbar BMD and bone formation markers, than elcatonin, with only mild adverse events and no significant change in the liver, kidney or hematological indices.</p>

Study on the associations between inflammatory factor and insulin resistance as well as type 2 diabetes with macrovascular complications / 中华流行病学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study the possible association between C-reactive (CRP) and insulin resistance (IR) as well as the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes macrovascular complication.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Serum CRP was measured by ultrasensitive immuoturbidimetric, which was determined on type 2 diabetes (T2DM) with or without macrovascular complication (70 and 60 cases respectively) and on normal controls (90 cases). IR was estimated by homeostasis model assessment (HOMA-IR).</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Results showed that the concentration of CRP was higher in T2DM with or without macrovascular complications than that in the healthy subjects (P < 0.01), while it was higher in diabetic patients with macrovascular complications than that in diabetic patients without macrovascular complications (P < 0.01). In diabetic patients with macrovascular complications, person correlation analysis indicated that there existed positive correlations between CRP and FINS, HOMA-IR, triglyceride (TG) while stepwise linear regression showed that usCRP and HOMA-IR, TG having linear correlation.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>CRP seemed to play a role in the initiation and progression of atherosclerosis in type 2 diabetes, possibly was by the way of IR.</p>