Safety and efficacy of acarbose in the treatment of diabetes in Chinese patients

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Abstract

Acarbose is an α-glucosidase inhibitor that is commonly used to control postprandial blood glucose. It functions as a competitive and reversible inhibitor of small intestinal brush border glucosidase, blocks the degradation of starch and sucrose, and delays the absorption of glucose and fructose in the alimentary tract. The starch content of a diet might alter the hypoglycemic effects of acarbose because of its mechanism of action. Chinese individuals consume a typical Eastern diet, which is characterized by a high intake of whole grains, legumes, vegetables, fruits, and fish. These dietary habits allow acarbose to be used extensively in the People’s Republic of China. Several Chinese-based studies have demonstrated that the use of acarbose as a monotherapy had similar effects on other anti-diabetes agents in decreasing glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA _1c) and blood glucose levels, and acarbose in combination with other anti-diabetic drugs could further reduce blood glucose and decrease the mean amplitude of glycemic excursions. Importantly, acarbose is safe and well tolerated, with a low incidence of adverse effects. This article provides a comprehensive review of the safety and efficacy of acarbose for the treatment of diabetes in Chinese patients.

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Most cited references 48

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The association between symptomatic, severe hypoglycaemia and mortality in type 2 diabetes: retrospective epidemiological analysis of the ACCORD study

Denise E. Bonds, Michael E. Miller, Richard M. Bergenstal … (2010)

Objective To determine whether there is a link between hypoglycaemia and mortality among participants in the Action to Control Cardiovascular Risk in Diabetes (ACCORD) trial. Design Retrospective epidemiological analysis of data from the ACCORD trial. Setting Diabetes clinics, research clinics, and primary care clinics. Participants Patients were eligible for the ACCORD study if they had type 2 diabetes, a glycated haemoglobin (haemoglobin A1C) concentration of 7.5% or more during screening, and were aged 40-79 years with established cardiovascular disease or 55-79 years with evidence of subclinical disease or two additional cardiovascular risk factors. Intervention Intensive (haemoglobin A1C <6.0%) or standard (haemoglobin A1C 7.0-7.9%) glucose control. Outcome measures Symptomatic, severe hypoglycaemia, manifest as either blood glucose concentration of less than 2.8 mmol/l (<50 mg/dl) or symptoms that resolved with treatment and that required either the assistance of another person or medical assistance, and all cause and cause specific mortality, including a specific assessment for involvement of hypoglycaemia. Results 10 194 of the 10 251 participants enrolled in the ACCORD study who had at least one assessment for hypoglycaemia during regular follow-up for vital status were included in this analysis. Unadjusted annual mortality among patients in the intensive glucose control arm was 2.8% in those who had one or more episodes of hypoglycaemia requiring any assistance compared with 1.2% for those with no episodes (53 deaths per 1924 person years and 201 deaths per 16 315 person years, respectively; adjusted hazard ratio (HR) 1.41, 95% CI 1.03 to 1.93). A similar pattern was seen among participants in the standard glucose control arm (3.7% (21 deaths per 564 person years) v 1.0% (176 deaths per 17 297 person years); adjusted HR 2.30, 95% CI 1.46 to 3.65). On the other hand, among participants with at least one hypoglycaemic episode requiring any assistance, a non-significantly lower risk of death was seen in those in the intensive arm compared with those in the standard arm (adjusted HR 0.74, 95% 0.46 to 1.23). A significantly lower risk was observed in the intensive arm compared with the standard arm in participants who had experienced at least one hypoglycaemic episode requiring medical assistance (adjusted HR 0.55, 95% CI 0.31 to 0.99). Of the 451 deaths that occurred in ACCORD up to the time when the intensive treatment arm was closed, one death was adjudicated as definitely related to hypoglycaemia. Conclusion Symptomatic, severe hypoglycaemia was associated with an increased risk of death within each study arm. However, among participants who experienced at least one episode of hypoglycaemia, the risk of death was lower in such participants in the intensive arm than in the standard arm. Symptomatic, severe hypoglycaemia does not appear to account for the difference in mortality between the two study arms up to the time when the ACCORD intensive glycaemia arm was discontinued. Trial registration NCT00000620.

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Glucose tolerance and cardiovascular mortality: comparison of fasting and 2-hour diagnostic criteria.

(2001)

New diagnostic criteria for diabetes based on fasting blood glucose (FBG) level were approved by the American Diabetes Association. The impact of using FBG only has not been evaluated thoroughly. The fasting and the 2-hour glucose (2h-BG) criteria were compared with regard to the prediction of mortality. Existing baseline data on glucose level at fasting and 2 hours after a 75-g oral glucose tolerance test from 10 prospective European cohort studies including 15 388 men and 7126 women aged 30 to 89 years, with a median follow-up of 8.8 years, were analyzed. Hazards ratios for death from all causes, cardiovascular disease, coronary heart disease, and stroke were estimated. Multivariate Cox regression analyses showed that the inclusion of FBG did not add significant information on the prediction of 2h-BG alone (P>.10 for various causes), whereas the addition of 2h-BG to FBG criteria significantly improved the prediction (P<.001 for all causes and P<.005 for cardiovascular disease). In a model including FBG and 2h-BG simultaneously, hazards ratios (95% confidence intervals) in subjects with diabetes on 2h-BG were 1.73 (1.45-2.06) for all causes, 1.40 (1.02-1.92) for cardiovascular disease, 1.56 (1.03-2.36) for coronary heart disease, and 1.29 (0.66-2.54) for stroke mortality, compared with the normal 2h-BG group. Compared with the normal FBG group, the corresponding hazards ratios in subjects with diabetes on FBG were 1.21 (1.01-1.44), 1.20 (0.88-1.64), 1.09 (0.71-1.67), and 1.64 (0.88-3.07), respectively. The largest number of excess deaths was observed in subjects who had impaired glucose tolerance but normal FBG levels. The 2h-BG is a better predictor of deaths from all causes and cardiovascular disease than is FBG.

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Retinopathy and nephropathy in patients with type 1 diabetes four years after a trial of intensive therapy. The Diabetes Control and Complications Trial/Epidemiology of Diabetes Interventions and Complications Research Group.

John M. Lachin, Saul Genuth, Patricia Cleary … (2000)

Among patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus, intensive therapy (with the aim of achieving near-normal blood glucose and glycosylated hemoglobin concentrations [hemoglobin A1c]) markedly reduces the risk of microvascular complications as compared with conventional therapy. To assess whether these benefits persist, we compared the effects of former and intensive conventional therapy on the recurrence and severity of retinopathy and nephropathy for four years after the end of the Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT). At the end of the DCCT, the patients in the conventional-therapy group were offered intensive therapy, and the care of all patients was transferred to their own physicians. Retinopathy was evaluated on the basis of centrally graded fundus photographs in 1208 patients during the fourth year after the DCCT ended, and nephropathy was evaluated on the basis of urine specimens obtained from 1302 patients during the third or fourth year, approximately half of whom were from each treatment group. The difference in the median glycosylated hemoglobin values between the conventional-therapy and intensive-therapy groups during the 6.5 years of the DCCT (average, 9.1 percent and 7.2 percent, respectively) narrowed during follow-up (median during 4 years, 8.2 percent and 7.9 percent, respectively, P<0.001). Nevertheless, the proportion of patients who had worsening retinopathy, including proliferative retinopathy, macular edema, and the need for laser therapy, was lower in the intensive-therapy group than in the conventional-therapy group (odds reduction, 72 percent to 87 percent, P<0.001). The proportion of patients with an increase in urinary albumin excretion was significantly lower in the intensive-therapy group. The reduction in the risk of progressive retinopathy and nephropathy resulting from intensive therapy in patients with type 1 diabetes persists for at least four years, despite increasing hyperglycemia.

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Author and article information

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): Ther Clin Risk Manag

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Ther Clin Risk Manag

Journal ID (publisher-id): Therapeutics and Clinical Risk Management

Title: Therapeutics and Clinical Risk Management

Publisher: Dove Medical Press

ISSN (Print): 1176-6336

ISSN (Electronic): 1178-203X

Publication date Collection: 2014

Publication date (Electronic): 30 June 2014

Volume: 10

Pages: 505-511

Affiliations

Department of Endocrinology, Nanjing First Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, People’s Republic of China

Author notes

*These authors contributed equally to this work

Correspondence: XM Mao, Department of Endocrinology, Nanjing First Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University, 68 ChangLe St, Nanjing, 210006, People’s Republic of China, Email maoxming@ 123456163.com

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Publisher ID: tcrm-10-505

DOI: 10.2147/TCRM.S50362

PMC ID: 4085335

PubMed ID: 25061309

SO-VID: 05f55a0c-6f31-4ddb-b316-19d7cd751455

License:

The full terms of the License are available at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/. Non-commercial uses of the work are permitted without any further permission from Dove Medical Press Limited, provided the work is properly attributed.

Safety and efficacy of acarbose in the treatment of diabetes in Chinese patients

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Most cited references 48

The association between symptomatic, severe hypoglycaemia and mortality in type 2 diabetes: retrospective epidemiological analysis of the ACCORD study

Glucose tolerance and cardiovascular mortality: comparison of fasting and 2-hour diagnostic criteria.

Retinopathy and nephropathy in patients with type 1 diabetes four years after a trial of intensive therapy. The Diabetes Control and Complications Trial/Epidemiology of Diabetes Interventions and Complications Research Group.

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