Acarbose improves glycemic control as add-on or monotherapy in Indian type-2 diabetes: Findings from the GlucoVIP...

To investigate the efficacy and tolerability of the anti-diabetic agent acarbose (Glucobay(®)) as add-on or monotherapy in a range of patients with type-2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), including those with cardiovascular morbidities in India.

This was a part of a prospective, non-interventional, non-controlled, multicentre, multinational, observational study. The study included patients of either gender if they were aged at least 18 years and had untreated or pre-treated type-2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) or impaired glucose tolerance and no acarbose treatment within the 3 months before study inclusion.

In total, 1996 Indian patients were included in the effectiveness and 2010 in the safety analysis. Patients received acarbose (25-150 mg/day). The mean age of the patients was 50.1 years and the mean BMI was 27.2 kg/m(2). Mean 2-h post-prandial plasma glucose (PPG) value and fasting blood glucose (FBG) decreased from 243.9 to 169.5 mg/dl and 158.3 to 120.4 mg/dl, respectively after the last follow-up of 12.4 weeks. The mean HbA1c value at initial visit was 8.4% and was 7.4% at the last follow-up visit. FBG, PPG and HbA1c deceased in 90.6%, 94.4% and 52.4% patients respectively, by the last follow-up visit. The mean decrease in weight and waist circumference was 1.4 kg and 1.6 cm, respectively by the last follow-up visit. Physicians assessed the efficacy of drug as positive response in "very good to good" in 91.08%, "sufficient" in 7.92% and "insufficient" in 0.90% of patients. Also, continuation of Acarbose was reported in 97.09% of patients. Adverse events were reported in 2.74% and drug-related adverse events were reported in 2.19% of patients. Majority of them were gastrointestinal adverse events but were not serious.

Acarbose is effective and safe in Indian patients with T2DM. Further, it helps in weight reduction and has very good compliance in patients with T2DM.