Comparison of diabetic control in type 2 (non-insulin dependent) diabetic patients treated with different sulphonylureas

Diabetic control was compared in groups of Type 2 (non-insulin dependent) diabetic patients treated concurrently for 1 year with five different sulphonylurea drugs: chlorpropamide (21), glipizide (24), gliquidone (22), gliclazide (22) and glibenclamide (23). Glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1) levels decreased in all groups over the first 2 months, but tended to level off or increase thereafter. In a total of 96 patients assessed after 1 year, gliclazide produced normal HbA1 levels in a significantly greater number of patients than chlorpropamide (p = 0.01) and gliquidone (p = 0.038), and glibenclamide was also significantly better than chlorpropamide (p = 0.02). Significant improvements in HbA1 were produced overall in the gliquidone (p less than 0.01), gliclazide (p less than 0.01) and glibenclamide (p less than 0.02) groups and the gliquidone and gliclazide groups were significantly better than the glipizide group (p less than 0.01 in both cases). Only the glibenclamide group had a significant change in weight (p less than 0.05). There may be differences between different sulphonylureas which could be of clinical advantage in certain patients.