Issues of insulin therapy for type 2 diabetes and ways to solve them

Abstract

The article is a summary of personal experience and literature data from PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, ClinicalTrials.gov databases. As a result of the analysis, the main problems faced by practical endocrinologists when administering insulin therapy to patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) have been determined. Insulin therapy remains an important component of glucose-lowering therapy in T2DM. A significant increase in the number of oral hypoglycemic agents has allowed delaying the start of insulin therapy but the treatment for T2DM without insulin is not real today. The current problems of insulin therapy are as follows: untimely start, insufficient titration of the dose of basal insulin, excessive use of basal and bolus insulins, the irrationality of the use of premixes and the basis bolus regimen of insulin therapy. There are methods to overcome each of these issues that have proven their effectiveness according to clinical trials and real clinical practice data. The combination of insulin and oral therapy plays an important role, the addition of oral hypoglycemic agents is effective at different stages of insulin therapy. One of the most promising options is the use of fixed combinations of basal insulin with glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists. Fixed combinations can be used as initial therapy and are often the first step when changing other insulin therapy regimens. The use of fixed combinations can be an option for modification (simplification) of complex insulin therapy regimens, including the basal bolus regimen. Authors review current evidence and circumstances in which insulin can be used, consider individualized choices of alternatives and combination regimens, and offer some guidance on personalized targets and approaches to glycemic control in type 2 diabetes. In general, most of the modern problems of insulin therapy have options for successful overcome.