Effectiveness of Insulin Glargine on Recovery of Patients with Diabetic Ketoacidosis: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Background: Diabetic Ketoacidosis (DKA) is a major hyperglycemic emergency in diabetes mellitus (DM). The basic treatment is injection of Regular insulin (RI). This study was aimed to investigate the effects of insulin Glargine (GI) on recovery of patients with DKA. Materials and Methods: A randomized clinical trial conducted on 40 patients (twenty patients in each group) with DKA. Both groups received standard treatment for DKA. Experimental group was given 0.4U/kg of GI within three hours of initiation of IV insulin infusion. Results: The mean duration of acidosis correction time and recovery from DKA was 13.77 +/- 6.10 and 16.91 +/- 6.49 h in the intervention and control groups respectively (p=0.123). The mean dosage of RI until recovery from DKA was 84.8 +/- 45.6 in the intervention and 116.5 +/- 91.6 units in control groups (p=0.17). Hypokalemia occurred in three patients in intervention and four patients in control groups. In 35% of samples in intervention group and 51% in controls blood sugar was more than 10 mmol/l for 24 h after discontinuation of the insulin infusion (p=0.046). The mean duration of hospitalization was 5.1 +/- 1.88 in intervention and 5.9 +/- 2.19 d in control group (p=0.225). Conclusion: Adding GI to the standard treatment of DKA reduced average time of recovery from DKA, without incurring episodes of hypoglycemia and hypokalemia. This also reduced in the time of recovery from DKA, amount of required insulin and the duration of hospitalization. It seems that the non-significant difference in the time of recovery from DKA be related to the small sample size and study design. Further studies are recommended.