[Quality of life and treatment satisfaction in patients being treated with long-acting insulin analogues].

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The purposeof this study was to review studies reporting on quality of lifeand treatment satisfaction of patients with diabetes mellitus beingtreated with long-acting insulin analogues. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A systematic literaturesearch was made of trials published between January 1, 2000 andJune 28, 2007. Retrieved studies were analysed, using predefinedinclusion criteria as well as methodological and quality aspects. RESULTS: Twelve studies were included,all of them dealing with insulin glargine as the trial drug or forcomparison. With regard to treatment satisfaction, insulin glarginewas superior in one head-to-head comparison with NPH (neutral protamineHagedorn) and one head-to-head comparison with NPH as an add-on tooral glimepiride. There was no difference in comparisons with continuoussubcutaneous insulin infusion (CSII), insulin aspart or exenatide.Regarding health related quality of life (HRQoL), insulin glarginewas shown to be superior to rosiglitazone as an add-on to metforminand sulfonylurea. Again, there were no differences in comparisonswith NPH, CSII or exenatide. CONCLUSION: There are only a limitednumber of high quality studies showing that insulin glargine issuperior regarding treatment satisfaction and HRQoL of patientswith diabetes mellitus. There are fewer publications with good evidenceof patient-reported outcomes than those reporting well-establishedoutcomes using HbA1c levels or the incidence of hypoglycaemia.