Abstract

Authors: Zhou FL, Xie L, Pan C, Wang Y, Vaidya N, Ye F, Preblick R, Meneghini L.

This study examines the relationship between glycated haemoglobin (A1C) levels and treatment persistence with, or time to discontinuation of, basal insulin in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) newly initiating insulin. Claims data were extracted from the Optum Clinformatics database from January 2010 to June 2015. Adult patients with T2D initiating insulin glargine 100 U/mL (Gla-100) or insulin detemir (DET) with ≥1 A1C measurement during 12-month baseline and 18-month follow-up periods were included. Patients with a refill gap of >90 days were considered non-persistent; otherwise, patients were considered persistent with insulin. The main outcome was A1C, measured closest to the end of each quarter during the follow-up period. A total of 3993 of 109 934 patients met the inclusion criteria (43.0% persistent; 57.0% non-persistent). Persistent patients were older (54.7 vs 52.7 years; P < .001), were more likely to be male (59.4% vs 54.4%; P = .002), and had significantly lower mean unadjusted A1C values at 18 months (8.26% vs 8.60%; P < .001) and quarterly. Only 43.0% of adults initiating basal insulin persisted with treatment for 18 months, with earlier discontinuation associated with higher A1C.

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