Effect of Acarbose Combined with Metformin on Blood Glucose Control and Islet Function in Elderly Patients with Refractory Type 2 Diabetes

Objective To evaluate the clinical effect of acarbose combined with metformin on the blood glucose control and islet function in elderly patients with refractory type 2 diabetes mellitus(T2DM). Methods 524 elderly patients with refractory T2 DM were randomly divided into two groups, with 262 cases in each group. The control group was treated with metformin, while the observation group was treated with acarbose combined with metformin. After 3 months of therapy, the clinical effect, glycemic indexes, islet function and adverse reactions were observed and analyzed. Results The total effective rate of observation group was significantly higher than that of control group(P 0.05). After therapy, the FBG, 2h PBG, Hb A1 C of both group decreased significantly, and FBG, 2h PBG, Hb A1 C of observation group were significantly lower than those of control group(P 0.05). After therapy, the levels of Fins and HOMA-IR of both group increased significantly, and the levels of FCP and HOMA-B decreased significantly(P 0.05). The incidence of drug-induced hypoglycemia of observation group was significantly lower than that of control group(P 0.05). Conclusions The combination therapy of acarbose and metformin for the treatment of elderly patients with refractory T2 DM can effectively control the blood glucose and improve the islet function.