Initiation of insulin therapy in patients with type 2 diabetes: An observational study

Abstract

The aim of the study was to assess the initiation of insulin therapy in patients with type 2 diabetes using health claims data on prescription medicines. The study evaluated time to insulin initiation and prescribing patterns of other anti-diabetic medicines before and after insulin initiation. Five years after starting non-insulin antidiabetic therapy, 6.4 % of patients were prescribed insulin, which is substantially lower compared to other similar studies. Among all patients who initiated insulin therapy in 2013, 30 % did not continue any other antidiabetic therapy. However, this proportion was lowered to 20 % in 2018. Before insulin initiation in 2018, metformin was prescribed in only 67 % of patients and sulfonylureas in 78 % of patients. Moreover, metformin and sulfonylureas were discontinued after insulin initiation in 26 and 37 % of patients, resp. More attention should be paid to the continuation of oral anti-diabetics, particularly metformin, after insulin initiation.

Factors affecting the health literacy status of patients with type 2 diabetes through demographic variables

“…'s study,[ 34 ] patients with rheumatoid arthritis received the highest score in terms of performance. Since the above study was conducted in The Netherlands, where the literacy rate and reading and writing skills are 96.5%;[ 35 ] thus, compared to the current study, the high level of functional HL in the studied people seems reasonable, which was inconsistent with the results of the present study.…”