Usefulness of troglitazone administration to obese hyperglycaemic patients with near‐normoglycaemia

AIMS: We assessed the effectiveness of 400 mg/day of troglitazone administered to hyperglycaemic patients with near-normoglycaemia who were obese and who had hyperinsulinaemia. RESULTS: The area under the plasma glucose curve in oral glucose tolerance tests (OGTT) significantly decreased from 39.8 +/- 19.4-20.5 +/- 10.2 mg/dL. h and the area under the insulin-response curve from 31.8 +/- 22.5-12.2 +/- 5.7 microU/ml x h 4 months after the start of treatment. The level of HbA1c significantly improved from 6.6 +/- 0.2 to 6.3 +/- 0.2% (p < 0.05) by 1 month after administration, and that of serum 1,5-anhydroglucitol (1,5-AG) from 12.6 +/- 1.1-18.3 +/- 2.5 micro/ml (p < 0.05). In some cases, recovery of the first-phase insulin secretion was observed. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that the administration of this insulin sensitizer is useful in the treatment of obese Japanese subjects with borderline or mild diabetics accompanied by hyperinsulinaemia.