Objective: Insulin injection aspects, such as fear of injection and pain, directly affect glycemic control, patient adherence and quality of life. Use of thinner and shorter needles could increase acceptance of injections. The aim of the study is to evaluate the non-inferiority of the new 34G × 3.5 mm needle compared to a 32G × 4 mm in patients with diabetes treated with insulin.
Methods: This is an open, randomized, two-period crossover, non-inferiority trial. Every treatment period lasted 3 weeks. Patients with type 1 or type 2 diabetes, treated with multiple daily insulin injections, were randomly assigned to receive a 34G × 3.5 mm or a 32G × 4 mm pen needle. The primary endpoint was the non-inferiority of the 34G × 3.5 mm in comparison with the 32G × 4 mm pen needle in terms of percentage absolute change of blood fructosamine (% |ΔFru|), using a non-inferiority margin of 20%.
Results: Overall 77 patients were randomized and 73 completed the study. Patients characteristics were: 52% male, 80.5% affected by type 1 diabetes, mean age 52 years (±14.6), mean BMI 24.5 kg/m2 (±5.6), HbA1c 8% (±1.1) and baseline fructosamine level 350 µmol/l (±84). Mean fructosamine levels increased by 0.56 µmol/l with the 34G needle, while a reduction of 7.29 μmol/l was documented with the 32G needle. The difference between the two groups (7.84 μmol/l) was not statistically significant (p = .27). The % |ΔFru| between the two groups was 7.55% (95% CI 5.67-9.44), meeting the non-inferiority criterion. Glycemic variability, expressed as standard deviation of fasting blood glucose and post-prandial glucose, was not different between the two treatment groups (p = .63 and p = .77, respectively).
Conclusions: The 34G × 3.5 mm needle was non-inferior to the 32G × 4 mm needle regarding fructosamine levels and glycemic variability supporting the suitability of the 34G × 3.5 mm needle for insulin injection in patients with diabetes.
Clinical trial registration: NCT02690467.
Keywords: Diabetes; Insulin; crossover trial; fructosamine; needle.