Diabetes Mellitus Treated with Chlorpropamide and Tolbutamide: A Four-year Clinical Study

The findings in 676 patients treated with tolbutamide and chlorpropamide for periods of up to four years are presented. Only small differences between the results obtained with the two drugs were found. In twenty patients treatment was discontinued because of intercurrent disease or because of side effects. There were sixty-seven primary failures (10 per cent). Of the remaining 589, there were sixty-six secondary failures (11 per cent), fifty-eight achieved fair control (10 per cent) and 465 good control (79 per cent). Satisfactory results were obtained most often in patients weighing between 85 per cent and 115 per cent of their standard weight, in those over forty-five years of age, and in those who had not previously required insulin. The mean body weight of the patients increased by 1.3 per cent while they were receiving sulfonylureas. Needle core liver biopsies were obtained from eight patients. Four of these were normal, three showed focal collections of chronic inflammatory cells, and one showed early portal cirrhosis.