A new study from Greece has found that administering insulin to diabetic patients having a heart attack may reduce mortality in these patients. The researchers propose that this effect may be due to improving the body's ability to break down blood clots.

This report confirms earlier studies that showed intensive insulin treatment benefits patients with diabetes in terms of both short-term and long-term mortality after having a heart attack. In this study, patients received either conventional optimal therapy for their heart attack alone or conventional therapy plus insulin. The patients had type 2 diabetes; those who were already receiving insulin routinely were not included in this study.

The researchers pointed out that they couldn't definitively answer whether the benefits during the acute event came from insulin infusion or from the improved glycemic control it provided. They concluded, however, that “the accumulated data are important enough to influence the method of treating a diabetic patient with an acute coronary event. Management should be started with an insulin infusion on admission and continue with multiple-injection insulin therapy during hospitalization.”