Vlachou Evgenia
Background: Type 2 diabetes mellitus is a progressive disease with deterioration of glycemic control over time. The nursing community, nowadays, is well aware of the increasing frequency and health cost burden of the diabetic complications. Monotherapeutic attempts often fail in the long run. We examined the effect of adding rosiglitazone to glimepiride treatment on glycemic control in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus when compared with increasing the glimepiride dose. The aim of the study was to show that adding a second antidiabetic agent, with a different mode of action but complementary to the one the patient is using, we can achieve better glycemic control than by increasing the dose of the first antidiabetic agent. Material and Method: 286 inadequately controlled Greek patients with diabetes mellitus type 2, were enrolled in the study. All patients were receiving glimepiride 4mg once daily. In the first group the patients were given rosiglitazone in addition to glimepiride. In the second group the dose of glimepiride was increased. Paired t-testing was used for statistical analysis and p