IntroductionPrescription patterns of antidiabetic drugs in the period from 2012 to 2018 were investigated based on the Diabetes Registry Tyrol. To validate the findings, we compared the numbers with trends of different national registries conducted in a comparable period of time.Research design and methodsMedication data, prescription patterns, age groups, antidiabetic therapies and quality parameters (hemoglobin A1c, body mass index, complications) of 10 875 patients with type 2 diabetes from 2012 to 2018 were retrospectively assessed and descriptively analyzed. The changes were assessed using a time series analysis with linear regression and prescription trends were plotted over time.ResultsSodium/glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors (SGLT-2i) showed a significant increase in prescription from 2012 to 2018 (p<0.001), as well as metformin (p=0.002), gliptins (p=0.013) and glucagon-like peptide-1 agonists (GLP-1a) (p=0.017). Significant reduction in sulfonylurea prescriptions (p<0.001) was observed. Metformin was the most frequently prescribed antidiabetic drug (51.3%), followed by insulin/analogs (34.6%), gliptins (28.2%), SGLT-2i (11.7%), sulfonylurea (9.1%), glitazones (3.7%), GLP-1a (2.8%) and glucosidase inhibitors (0.4%).ConclusionsIn this long-term, real-world study on prescription changes in the Diabetes Registry Tyrol, we observed significant increase in SGLT-2i, metformin, gliptins and GLP-1a prescriptions. In contrast prescriptions for sulfonylureas declined significantly. Changes were consistent over the years 2012–2018. Changes in prescription patterns occurred even before the publication of international and national guidelines. Thus, physicians change their prescription practice not only based on published guidelines, but even earlier on publication of cardiovascular outcome trials.

SummaryDiabetes mellitus affects 9% of the adult population worldwide and the economic burden of the disease is growing exponentially. In type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), when life style interventions fail to achieve treatment targets, oral antidiabetic drugs are prescribed to improve glycemic control. Several new oral antidiabetics have been launched in the last few years, which enlarged the spectrum of available treatment options in T2DM. The present study aimed to examine T2DM treatment patterns in a cohort of 7769 patients recruited from the Diabetes Registry Tyrol (DRT) with at least one visit from 2012–2015. Secondly, the study aimed to evaluate the use of new oral antidiabetics compared to older oral antidiabetics (OAD). It was found that 43.4% of all patients were treated with OAD alone while 21.2% had oral antidiabetics combined with insulin. 19.9% of the study population were treated with insulin or insulin analogs only. 15.3% had no pharmacological treatment. Metformin was used most frequently (47.9% of the study population), followed by gliptines (27.2%). The most common treatment regimen in this population was the dual therapy of metformin and another OAD (17.2%), followed by metformin monotherapy (16.6%) and triple therapy of metformin and two additional OAD (11.0%).