Introduction: We studied the effects of dipeptidyl peptidase 4 (DPP4) inhibitors on glycemic control in non-critically ill patients admitted to hospital.
Methods: We searched MEDLINE and EMBASE for published studies in English up to July 2019. We included randomized clinical trials (RCTs) that compared DPP4 inhibitors plus insulin supplementation versus basal-bolus insulin regimen in the management of hyperglycemia non-critically ill patients with type 2 diabetes admitted to hospital. Mean difference (MD), relative risk (RR), and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were generated to interpret the data.
Results: Of 401 papers, four RCTs including 648 participants met inclusion criteria. There was no significant difference in mean daily blood glucose level between the two groups (MD 4.63; 95% CI = - 1.57, 10.83; p = 0.14) (I2 = 14%, p = 0.32). Total insulin dose per day was lower in patients receiving DPP4 inhibitors (MD - 14.27; CI = - 22.47, - 6.07; p = 0.001) (I2 = 92%, p = 0.001). Also, the number of insulin injection was significantly lower in patients receiving DPP4 inhibitors (MD - 0.79; CI = - 1.01, - 0.57; p = 0.001) (I2 = 0%, p = 0.68). The rate of hypoglycemia was not significantly different between the two groups (RR 0.60, CI = 0.34, 1.074; p = 0.08) (I2 = 37.3%, p = 0.18). Treatment failure was not significantly different between the two groups (RR 0.87, CI = 0.64, 4.8; p = 0.38) (I2 = 49%, p = 0.11).
Conclusion: The results indicate that using DPP4 inhibitors plus basal or supplemental insulin in hospitalized patients is non-inferior to a standard basal-bolus insulin regimen and leads to a lower amount of insulin use and a lower rate of insulin injection. Limitations of this study were heterogeneity of baseline characteristics of included patients, small sample size, short duration, and non-uniformly defined outcome assessment parameters in the included studies.
Keywords: Diabetes mellitus; Dipeptidyl peptidase 4 inhibitors; Hospitalization; Insulin.