Original Article Effects of intensive insulin therapy upon pancreatic β cell function in patients newly diagnosed with type II diabetes

Objective: This study was designed to evaluate the clinical efficacy of intensive insulin therapy for patients newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Methods: A total of 219 patients newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes were randomly assigned into insulin group (n = 55), gliclazide group (n = 52), metformin group (n = 55) and pioglitazone group (n = 57). On the basis of diet and physical interventions, patients in the insulin group received intensive in- sulin therapy. Those in other three groups were given oral intake of medication. All treatment schemes endured for 12 weeks. A variety of indexes including fasting blood-glucose (FPG), FPG at 2 h after diet (FPG 2 h), hemoglobin A1 c (HbAlc), area under the curve (AUC) for insulin (insulin AUC) after glucose load, C-peptide AUC after glucose load (C-peptide AUC), changes in insulin secretion index (Homa-β) and insulin resistance index( Homa-IR) were ac- curately measured and statistically among different groups. Results: The insulin AUC at 0-30 min, C-peptide AUC at 0-30 min and Homa-β in the insulin group were equally significantly higher compared with those levels in the other three groups. In addition, the level of Homa-IR in the insulin, metformin and pioglitazone groups were all significantly reduced compared with the values prior to respective treatment (all P < 0.05). Conclusion: Compared with oral ad- ministration of hypoglycemic drugs, intensive insulin therapy is able to better improve pancreatic β cell function and insulin resistance for newly-diagnosed type 2 diabetes patients.