The following is a summary of “Prescribing pattern of anti-diabetic drugs and adherence to the American Diabetes Association’s (ADA) 2021 treatment guidelines among patients of type 2 diabetes mellitus: A cross-sectional study,” published in the October 2022 issue of Primary care by Tiwari, et al.

The primary treatment goal in diabetes is glycemic control. The sensible use of anti-diabetic medications, which need to be tested for efficacy by prescription pattern studies, can prevent poor glycemic control in diabetes mellitus. For a study, researchers sought to evaluate the prescribing practices and adherence to the American Diabetes Association’s (ADA) treatment recommendations among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus in a tertiary care teaching hospital in India.

About 206 type 2 diabetes individuals on anti-diabetic medicine participated in this cross-sectional research. To analyze the prescription pattern, the patient’s demographic information, as well as the medications prescribed and their dose, were collected.

In 149 (72.33%) individuals with type 2 diabetes mellitus, oral anti-diabetic medications were the most frequently given medication. Five of these patients (3.35%) were receiving metformin alone, as opposed to the bulk of patients (81, 54.36%) who were receiving Glimepiride (SU) + Metformin (MET) at a set dosage (MET). A combination of MET + Dipeptidyl peptidase 4 inhibitors (DPP4I) combination was administered to 45 patients (30.20%), MET + SU + alpha-glucosidase inhibitors (AGI) to 5 patients (3.35%), MET + SU + pioglitazone (PIO) (thiazolidinediones) to 7 patients (4.69%), MET + SU + sodium/glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors (SGLT2I) to 6 patients (4.02%), Out of 206 individuals, 185 (89.8%) had prescriptions that followed the ADA 2021 therapy recommendations, while 21 (10.19%) did not.

Although fixed-dose combinations (FDC) were increasingly used to control type 2 DM, oral anti-diabetic medications still made up the bulk of prescriptions, which were generally written in accordance with ADA treatment recommendations.

Reference: journals.lww.com/jfmpc/Fulltext/2022/10000/Prescribing_pattern_of_anti_diabetic_drugs_and.43.aspx