Insulin detemir used in basal-bolus therapy in people with type 1 diabetes is associated with a lower risk of nocturnal hypoglycaemia and less weight gain over 12 months in comparison to NPH insulin

Plain-language guide to PMID 15642078 (2005): open-label randomized controlled trial study of Insulin Detemir and NPH Insulin (isophane) in 308 people.

Key Facts

PMID: 15642078
Journal: Diabetes, obesity & metabolism
Year: 2005
Study type: Randomized Controlled Trial
Authors: De Leeuw I et al. (7 authors)
DOI: 10.1111/j.1463-1326.2004.00363.x

What This Study Did, in Plain Language

What Was Tested

This randomized controlled trial paper looks at Insulin Detemir and NPH Insulin (isophane).

Who Took Part

The abstract describes 308 people taking part.

PubMed indexes the participants as adults, both men and women.

Patients were randomized in a 2:1 ratio to receive insulin detemir or NPH insulin before breakfast and dinner, with insulin aspart at mealtimes.

How the Study Was Run

In design terms this was a randomized, open-label, multicenter and parallel-group study.

Because people in this Insulin Detemir study were split into groups at random, differences between the groups are less likely to reflect who happened to join each one.

Everyone knew when Insulin Detemir was being given (open label), which is simpler to run but leaves more room for expectations to affect what is reported.

More than one site took part, so the people came from several places.

Groups ran in parallel: each of the people stayed in one arm throughout.

A time span of 12 months appears in the methods.

A multicentre, open-label, parallel-group study was conducted over 12 months and completed by 308 people (from an original randomized cohort of 428).

What Was Measured

Topics PubMed links to this paper include Blood Glucose, Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1, Glycated Hemoglobin, Insulin, Insulin Detemir, Insulin, Isophane and Insulin, Long-Acting.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, open-label and multicenter study of Insulin Detemir and NPH Insulin (isophane) in 308 people over 12 months.

With several hundred people or more, it is a fairly large study for this kind of research.

Its findings take up roughly 7 sentences of the abstract and are left out here on purpose; the source paper is the place to read them.

The publication is from 2005 (Diabetes, obesity & metabolism), a journal based in England.

More context: the Insulin Detemir compound page and the NPH Insulin (isophane) compound page, all human trials.

Our Notes on the Compounds

Insulin Detemir: A long-acting basal insulin analog sold as Levemir.

NPH Insulin (isophane): An intermediate-acting insulin made by combining insulin with protamine; also called isophane or NPH insulin (Humulin N, Novolin N).

Source: PubMed record. This explanation is written by PeptideWhiz from the public record. For research and education only. Not medical advice; no dosing information is given.