Comparison of hypoglycaemia episodes in people with type-2 diabetes fasting in Ramazan, treated with vildaglipton or sulphonylurea: results of the Pakistani cohort of the VIRTUE study

• Published in: Journal of the Pakistan Medical Association 2014-11, Vol.64 (11), p.1297-1302
• Main Authors: Mahar, Saeed Ahmed, Hasan, Mohammad Imtiaz, Khan, Mohammad Imran Hasan, Fawwad, Asher, Hussain, Shakir, Maheshwary, Neeta, Kumar, Kishore, Siddiqi, Ahson, Khan, Muhammad Athar
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adamantane - analogs & derivatives; Adamantane - therapeutic use; Adult; Aged; Care and treatment; Cohort Studies; Comparative analysis; Diabetes mellitus; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 - complications; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 - drug therapy; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 - ethnology; Fasting; Female; Humans; Hypoglycemia - epidemiology; Hypoglycemic Agents - therapeutic use; Islam; Male; Middle Aged; Nitriles - therapeutic use; Pakistan; Pharmaceutical industry; Pyrrolidines - therapeutic use; Sulfonylurea Compounds - therapeutic use
• ISSN: 0030-9982

To assess the effect of vildagliptin in comparison to sulphonylurea (SU) on hypoglycaemia in Muslim patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus fasting during Ramadan. VIRTUE was a multicenter, prospective, observational study, which enrolled 244 patients from Pakistan who were re-analysed. All included patients were treated with vildagliptin (n=121) or SU (n=121) as add-on to metformin or as monotherapy for 16 weeks. The primary outcome of interest was to compare the proportion of patients with ≥1 hypoglycaemic event (HE) during fasting between vildagliptin and SU cohort. Changes in HbA1c and body weight and treatment adherence were also measured. Of the 244 patients enrolled, 120 patients in the vildagliptin cohort (99.2%) and 119 patients in the SU cohort (98.3%) completed the study. Patients experiencing at least one HE were fewer with vildagliptin when compared with SUs (5.8% vs. 14.2%; p