[Characteristics and methods of use of insulins].

Life-saving for people with type 1 or insulin-deprived diabetes for other causes, needed for people with type 2 diabetes or diabetes of other origin for which glucose control is not achievable without it, insulin therapy has shown a dramatic evolution during the last 30 years. The multiple-daily insulin injection regimens almost only use fast-acting and long-acting insulin analogues, according to a standard-of-care basal-bolus scheme. The initiation of insulin therapy in type 2 diabetes electively promotes the use of a long-acting insulin analogue. Using premix combinations of a fast-acting analogue and NPH insulin becomes obsolete. The treatment by insulin pumps which uses only fast-acting analogues has shown a major development in type 1 diabetes, amplified during the recent 5 years by the availability of automated insulin delivery systems.