[Effect of insulin plus rosiglitazone or metformin on serum N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide in type 2 diabetes mellitus: a randomized-controlled study]

Abstract

This study was aimed to compare the effect of insulin plus rosiglitazone with that of insulin plus metformin on the level of serum N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-BNP) in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus, and to find out whether serum NT-BNP can be used as an index for predicting heart failure induced by rosiglitazone in the cases of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Sixty type 2 diabetic patients were recruited and were randomly divided into two groups: group A (n = 30) received insulin plus rosiglitazone (4 mg/d) and group B (n = 30) received insulin plus metformin. The observations covered an 8-weeks' course of treatment. Serum NT-BNP was measured at the beginning and at the end of 8 weeks. The Before-After study revealed that the level of serum NT-BNP did not change apparently in the two groups (P >0.05). There was no remarkable difference in the level of serum NT-BNP between the two groups (P>0.05). There were 3 cases with edema in the group of insulin plus rosiglitazone, but none with heart failure; in these three cases, the mean serum NT-BNP level at the end of the treatment exhibited an increase of 108.99 fmol/ml when compared with that at the beginning. Neither insulin plus rosiglitazone nor insulin plus metformin had apparent effect on the level of serum NT-BNP in the patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. The question of whether serum NT-BNP is a predictive index of heart failure awaits answers given by more observation on type 2 diabetes mellitus patients using rosiglitazone.