Abstract
Insulin therapy has been an inseparable part of the treatment of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus for many years, in particular for those with longer diabetes duration. In clinical practice, the insulin treatment is often initiated later than it optimally should be.
The main reasons include the fear of patients (and sometimes also physicians) of the side effects of insulin - in particular hypoglycemia and weight gain. Even though the options of antidiabetic treatment have expanded by the addition of novel groups of antidiabetics with good efficacy and low risk of hypoglycemia (gliptins, gliflozins and GLP-1 receptor agonists), long-acting insulin therapy still remains the most effective way of decreasing fasting hyperglycemia with the effect lasting further throughout the day.
In this paper we summarize the current knowledge about efficacy and safety of long-acting insulin analogues of the second generation - insulin degludec and insulin glargine 300 IU/ml. We discuss their advantages over older types of long-acting insulins, differences among particular insulins and its clinical consequences.