Long-acting insulin does not increase risk of heart attack in people with type 2 diabetes

Long-acting insulin does not increase the risk of acute myocardial infarction – or heart attack – in people with type 2 diabetes, according to new research.
The study, conducted by researchers from the Leibniz Institute for Prevention Research and Epidemiology in Bremen, Germany, compared the impact of long-acting insulin analogs with other basal insulin therapies on the risk of heart attack in people with type 2 diabetes. No significant differences were observed. A previous study, however, suggested that long-acting insulin increased heart attack risk.
The researchers examined data from 21,501 type 2 diabetes patients who had recently begun to take insulin; some were treated with premixed insulin, some with analog insulin, and some with human neutral protamine Hagedorn (NPH) insulin.
The researchers observed no significant increase in heart attack risk from the use of either type of insulin.
“In contrast to a former database study, no difference was observed for the risk of AMI between long-acting analog and NPH insulin in this study,” the researchers wrote.
“Neither long-acting insulin nor premix insulin appears to be associated with acute MI in patients with type 2 diabetes.”
The findings were published in Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism.