Pioglitazone Versus Metformin in Type 2 Diabetes

Exclusion Criteria

• •Pregnancy or breast-feeding
• •Any investigational drug within the previous 3 months
• •Use of agents affecting glycemic control (systemic glucocorticoids, and weight-loss drugs)
• •Presence of any clinically relevant somatic or mental diseases that anticipated poor adherence to diet regimens
• •To minimize the likelihood of including subjects with late-onset type 1 diabetes, candidates with a positive test for anti-GAD antibody or with fasting plasma C-peptide less than 0.76 ng/L (\<0.25 pmol/L) were excluded
• •Also excluded were patients with abnormal laboratory tests, including liver enzymes (alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, alkaline phosphatase) greater than 3 times the upper limit of normal, and serum creatinine greater than 123.8 μmol/L (1.4 mg/dL).