Introduction: Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is characterized by worsening pancreatic β-cell function often requiring treatment escalation with oral antidiabetic drugs (OADs), glucagon-like peptide-1 and eventually insulin. Although there is much evidence available on the initiation of basal insulins, fewer studies have investigated the effects of switching from one basal insulin to another. This study aims to evaluate treatment persistence and hypoglycaemia in adult patients with T2D on prior basal insulin who were switched to insulin glargine 300 units/mL (Gla-300) or other basal insulins in a real-world setting.

Materials and methods: This study is a retrospective cohort analysis of patient-level data extracted from the Optum^® Clinformatics^™ database between 1 October 2014 and 30 June 2016. Adult patients (≥18 years) with T2D who were being treated with basal insulin during the 6-month baseline period, who switched to either Gla-300 or other basal insulins, were followed up for ≥3 months after switching. Outcomes included treatment persistence, and incidence and number of hypoglycaemic events.

Results: Of the included patients, 1204 switched to Gla-300 and 616 switched to other basal insulins. Adjusting for baseline confounders, patients who switched to Gla-300 were 34% less likely to discontinue their basal insulin than patients who switched to other basal insulins (hazard ratio [HR] 0.66; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.54-0.81; P < 0.001). Patients who switched to Gla-300 were less likely to experience hypoglycaemia at 3-month follow-up (odds ratio [OR] 0.56, 95% CI 0.32-0.97; P = 0.039) and at 6-month follow-up (OR 0.58, 95% CI 0.38-0.87; P = 0.009) compared with patients who switched to other basal insulins.

Conclusions: Patients with T2D on prior basal insulin in a real-world setting who switched to Gla-300 were more persistent with their basal insulin and experienced less hypoglycaemia than patients who switched to other basal insulins.