Comparative efficacy and safety of insulin analogs in hospitalized adults.

Purpose: The comparative efficacy, safety, and cost-effectiveness of rapid and long-acting insulin analogs compared with regular or neutral protamine Hagedorn nonanalog insulins or with oral antidiabetic agents in hospitalized adults were evaluated.

Methods: A literature search was conducted to identify studies that compared the effects of rapid-acting, long-acting, or mixed insulin analogs with short- or intermediate-acting insulin or any other oral antidiabetic medication.

Results: Twenty-three primary studies were included in the review. Rapid-acting analogs and basal-bolus analog regimens were found to reduce the duration of hospital stay by approximately one day compared with regular insulin and basal-bolus nonanalog regimens. One large cohort study found an adjusted 48% relative risk reduction in mortality with rapid-acting analogs versus regular insulin in a heterogeneous hospitalized hyperglycemic population. A randomized controlled trial found a significant reduction in postoperative complications with basal-bolus analogs compared with basal-bolus nonanalog insulin. When compared with regular sliding-scale insulin (SSI), fixed-dose insulin glargine with or without insulin glulisine was found to reduce the blood glucose concentration in patients with type 2 diabetes and reduce postoperative complications in surgical patients with diabetes. The quality of evidence was primarily very low or low for most outcomes.

Conclusion: A systematic literature review revealed a very low or low quality of evidence, suggesting that, compared with nonanalog regimens, rapid-acting insulin analogs reduce the duration of hospital stay and mortality rates and that basal- bolus analog regimens may reduce the duration of hospital stay and postoperative complications. There is also a low quality of evidence to suggest that a fixed-dose analog regimen of insulin glargine with or without insulin glulisine is more effective than regular SSI for reducing blood glucose concentrations and postoperative complications.