COMPARISON OF NOVOPEN 3 AND SYRINGES VIALS IN THE ACCEPTANCE OF INSULIN THERAPY IN NIDDM PATIENTS WITH SECONDARY FAILURE TO ORAL HYPOGLYCEMIC AGENTS/

This open, randomised, cross-over study compared the acceptance and sa fety of NovoPen 3 with that of conventional syringes and vials when in itiating insulin treatment in 96 NIDDM patients with secondary failure to oral hypoglycaemic agents. These patients had not previously been treated with insulin. All patients used each insulin administration sy stem for 12 weeks. Group A started therapy using NovoPen 3 and crossed over to syringe/vial administration; Group B started with syringe/via l administration followed by NovoPen 3. In total, 78 patients complete d the study. Most patients in Group A initially found the insulin inje ctions very easy or easy and many of those who found injections easy a t first found them very easy by the end of week 12. During the first p eriod, patients in Group B found insulin administration more difficult than those in Group A. Injection pain was significantly lower with No voPen 3 than with syringes and vials (P = 0.0018). Patients in Group B reported a significantly lower level of injection pain after the swit ch to using NovoPen 3 (P = 0.0003). Acceptance of insulin injections w as significantly higher by patients using NovoPen 3 than by those usin g syringes and vials (P = 0.0059). Setting and drawing up the dose of insulin was also easier for patients using NovoPen 3 (P = 0.0490). At the end of the study, most patients (89.5%, (68/76 replies)) said that they preferred NovoPen 3 to syringes and vials. Glycaemic control imp roved compared with baseline after starting insulin therapy, with no d ifferences between Groups A and B, or between the two injection system s. The number of reported hypoglycaemic episodes was very low and was not significantly different between Groups A and B, or between the two administration systems. No treatment-related adverse events were repo rted. We conclude that use of NovoPen 3 provides better acceptance of insulin injections than use of conventional syringes and vials during initiation of insulin therapy in NIDDM patients with secondary failure to treatment with oral hypoglycaemic agents. (C) 1998 Published by El sevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.