The association between insulin regimen and the risk of severe hypoglycemia and mortality in adults with type 2 diabetes. A large population based retrospective cohort study.

Abstract

Objective: To compare severe hypoglycemia and all-cause mortality between insulin regimens in people with type 2 diabetes on insulin.

Methods: This retrospective cohort study included individuals with type 2 diabetes who received a first insulin prescription from Apr2007-Dec2018 in Manitoba, Canada. We used cox proportional hazard regression models to compare risks and time-to-events for severe hypoglycemia and all-cause mortality amongst insulin regimens, adjusting for covariates.

Results: 21,512 individuals were included with 1,156 (5.4%) individuals experiencing a severe hypoglycemic episode and 3,562 (16.6%) dying during the study period. When compared to long-acting insulin alone, short-acting, intermediate- plus short-acting, long- plus short-acting, and premixed insulins were associated with severe hypoglycemia. However, after removing individuals who had never been prescribed a non-insulin antihyperglycemic medication, short-acting was no longer associated with severe hypoglycemia with the adjusted HR going from 1.99(95% CI 1.44-2.74) for the entire cohort to 1.13(95% CI 0.63-2.04). When compared to long-acting insulin, short-acting insulin alone and premixed insulin were associated with a higher all-cause mortality in both the main analysis (adjusted HR 2.36[95% CI 2.06-2.72] and 1.17[95% CI 1.04-1.31], respectively) and the analysis which removed individuals who had never been prescribed a non-insulin antihyperglycemic agent.

Discussion and conclusions: Severe hypoglycemia is common in those with type 2 diabetes on insulin. Several insulin regimens were associated with severe hypoglycemia and/or all-cause mortality. However, additional research is required to determine whether this association is causal, or indicative of insulin regimen differences due to residual confounders such as diabetes severity, prognosis, or health literacy.