Evaluation of Efficacy of Acarbose on Glucose Fluctuation and Postprandial Glucose Using Continuous Glucose Monitoring in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of the α-glucosidase inhibitor acarbose on glucose fluctuations in patients with type 2 diabetes using continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). METHODS: CGM was performed for 4 days (72 h), and acarbose at 300 mg/day was administered on two of these days but not on the other two days. The effects on blood glucose fluctuations were evaluated. RESULTS: We recruited a total of 10 patients (five men and five women) with a mean ± SD age of 63.1 ± 12.1 years, body mass index of 22.6 ± 5.4 kg/m(2), and glycohemoglobin of 9.9 ± 1.9%. During treatment with acarbose, significant decreases in median (range) SD of 24-h mean blood glucose (22.48 [6.39-47.22] mg/dL vs. 32.78 [18.83-58.93] mg/dL, P = 0.004), 24-h blood glucose fluctuations (453.27 [128.51-903.94] mg·h/dL vs. 677.05 [358.03-1,234.57] mg·h/dL, P = 0.002), and mean amplitude of glycemic excursions (65.00 [18.17-117.50] vs. 97.09 [53.00-166.67], P = 0.010) occurred compared with no treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Acarbose reduced excessive blood glucose fluctuations.