Why carry out this study?

Early achievement of tight glycemic control improves microvascular outcomes in type 2 diabetes, but its benefits could be offset by increased risk of hypoglycemia, particularly with regimens that include sulfonylureas or insulin.

We explored whether initial treatment with the dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitor linagliptin combined with metformin could elicit tight glycemic control (HbA1c ≤ 6.5%) without increasing hypoglycemia.

What was learned from this study?

The linagliptin/metformin combination more than doubled the odds ratio of achieving HbA1c ≤ 6.5% after 24 weeks of treatment compared to metformin alone, with a similar incidence of hypoglycemia.

Early combination of linagliptin and metformin may improve type 2 diabetes treatment compared with metformin alone.