Early initiation of insulin therapy often remains contentious due to various patient and physician-related barriers. Insulin is delayed by several years despite high A1c and is the foremost reason for costly future complications. In addition, the problem of early aggressive use of insulin depleting drugs causes β-cell fatigue leading to "brittle diabetes" and higher insulin dose requirements. In this observational cohort study, a comparison has been made between early insulin initiators (EII) (within 7-8 years of diabetes onset) and late insulin initiators (LII) (>8 years of onset), in terms of progression of CKD (eGFR decline), if any. A total of 200 subjects in each arm were matched at baseline for T2DM duration (16.78±4.32 year), BP, BMI, HbA1c and presence of co-morbid illnesses. Both groups were closely followed-up through our Diabetes Tele Management System based health care model that have previously shown to be successful in safely achieving glycemic targets compared to conventional models of care. A paired t test was done for analyzing the eGFR decline within each arm. EII arm required a significantly lower total daily dose of insulin (TDD) (average of 9 units/day) to maintain glycemic control throughout than the LII arm (average of 30 units/day). The decline in eGFR was significant in the LII arm, whereas in the EII arm, eGFR was maintained throughout. Change in A1c was also significant.
J. Kesavadev: None. R. Warrier: None. L. Ramachandran: None. A. Shankar: None. A. David: None. N.A. Ajai: None. G. Sanal: None. K. Thampiraj: None. G. Krishnan: None. S. Jothydev: None.
