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Aims: The International Diabetes Management Practices Study (IDMPS) is an international annual survey aiming to study and characterize the current standards of care for managing DM in developing countries., Background: In Egypt, DM represents a substantial burden on the healthcare system, with an estimated 10.9 million patients, ranking it 10th amongst countries with the highest prevalence of DM. Previous studies showed that to maintain safety and achieve treatment goals among diabetic patients, optimal insulin therapy should be selected individually based on the patient's needs. We reported the proportion of Egyptian T2DM patients on insulin therapy who participated in the eighth wave of the IDMPS., Methods: The 2018 IDMPS wave consisted of cross-sectional and longitudinal phases and aimed to evaluate the proportion of T2DM who were on insulin therapy in 13 countries from four regions. In Egypt, 17 physicians agreed to participate in the present study and were required to include at least one patient., Results: A total of 180 T2DM patients were included in the cross-section phase. At the end of the ninth month of follow-up, data from 170 T2DM patients were available. A total of 39 T2DM patients (21.7%) were on insulin therapy, with a mean duration of 32.4 ± 36.6 months. More than half of the patients (n = 22; 56.4%) were on basal insulin, mainly long-acting (n = 20; 90.9%). The mean basal insulin daily dose was 0.3 ± 0.1 IU/Kg. Notably, 28.2% of the patients received insulin via vials, and 46.2% stated that they were adjusting the insulin dose by themselves. On the other hand, 60.2% of the study population was on oral antidiabetic drugs at the cross-sectional phase. Nearly 17.4% and 27% of the patients in the cross-sectional phase achieved the glycemic target per recommendations of international guidelines and the treating physicians, respectively. At the end of the longitudinal phase, the percentage of T2DM patients who achieved glycemic targets increased to 38.4% and 77.4% as per recommendations of international guidelines and the treating physicians, respectively. Overall, 38.3% of T2DM patients received diabetes education, and 28.9% were involved in an educational program provided by the physician or their clinical staff. Besides, 85.5% of T2DM patients followed their diabetes medication dosage and frequency strictly as prescribed., Conclusion: The proportion of insulin use in patients with T2DM aligned with the previous studies from different countries; however, it is still inadequate to achieve the targeted glycemic control. Nearly one-third of Egyptian patients received diabetes education, highlighting the need for adopting a national educational program. Nonetheless, the level of adherence among T2DM from Egypt appears to be high., (Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.net.)

Background: Medicinal plants have long been used for the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). This study aimed to investigate the hypoglycemic efficacy and safety of NW Low-Glu® (contents of one capsule are 300 mg Mas Cotek + 100 mg Cinnamomum cassia L . + 250 mg Nigella sativa L. powdered extracts) in treatment-naïve, newly diagnosed T2DM patients., Methods: This was a 12-week, double-blind, double-dummy, randomized, phase 2 clinical trial. A total of 232 male and female patients aged ≥18 and ≤65 years who were newly diagnosed with T2DM and have not received any antidiabetic drugs before and were equally randomized to receive metformin (2000 mg per day), low-dose NW Low-Glu® (content of four capsules per day), or high-dose NW Low-Glu® (content of five capsules per day). Our primary objective was to measure the mean change in HbA1c between each of the experimental arms and the metformin arm., Results: There was a significant reduction in mean HbA1c at 12 weeks compared to baseline in the low-dose (0.6 (1.4)%; p =0.002) and high-dose arms (0.8 (1.7)%; p =0.004). There was also a significant reduction in 2 hr PPG at 12 weeks in the low-dose (35.4 (74.9) mg/dL, p =0.001) and high-dose arms (24.7 (100.8) mg/dL, p =0.04). Weight reduction was significantly higher with both high-dose (1.1 (-1.7) Kg; p =0.005) and low-dose arms (0.9 (-1.5) Kg; p =0.023) compared to metformin (0.8 (-1.8) Kg). No serious AEs or deaths were reported., Conclusions: After 3 months of treatment, NW Low-Glu® was noninferior to metformin in reducing HbA1c and 2 hr PPG, while leading to significantly higher weight reduction in newly diagnosed T2DM patients. It was also safe and well tolerated., Competing Interests: Shahnaz Mohamed is an employee of Natural Wellness. The rest of the authors declare no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Samir Assaad-Khalil et al.)