Clinical inertia among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus treated with DPP-4i and/or SGLT-2i.

OBJECTIVES: Failure to intensify treatment of patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) in a timely manner is a common challenge. If newer oral anti-diabetic drugs (NOADs) such as dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors (DPP-4i) and sodium/glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors (SGLT-2i) do not achieve metabolic control, injectable therapy like insulin or glucagon-like Peptide 1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists are required. We investigated the time in poor glycaemic control (PC, HbA1c > 7%, >7.5%, >8%) in adults with T2D treated with DPP-4i/SGLT-2i until treatment intensification with insulin/GLP-1 or until the most recent documented visit. METHODS: T2D ≥ 18 years were identified from the diabetes patient follow-up registry (DPV), which captures data from diabetes specialist care. Patients with ≥2 documented visits with DPP-4i/SGLT-2i treatment and with the most recent treatment year ≥2015 were included. RESULTS: The study population consisted of 4576 patients treated with DPP-4i/SGLT-2i. A subgroup of 1416 patients were intensified with an injectable therapy. Mean time in PC until intensification with insulin/GLP-1 was 16.7 months (HbA1c > 7%), 15.7 and 15.1 months (HbA1c > 7.5%, HbA1c > 8%) in this subgroup, respectively. Mean time in PC until most recent visit was 12.6, 9.9 and 8.4 months in the subgroup of patients without treatment intensification. CONCLUSIONS: Even with NOADs, a substantial proportion of T2D do not achieve good metabolic control. These findings may be due to individualized target setting for HbA1c, or reluctance of patients and physicians towards injectable therapy. Effective diabetes management strategies are necessary to reduce the risk of adverse outcomes and to increase quality of life in T2D.

Type 2 diabetes from pediatric to geriatric age: analysis of gender and obesity among 120,183 patients from the German/Austrian DPV database.

AIM: To characterize the clinical phenotype of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) with respect to age, gender, and BMI. METHOD: Anonymized data of 120,183 people with T2DM from the German/Austrian multicenter Diabetes Patienten Verlaufsdokumentation database were analyzed based on chronological age or age at diagnosis (0-19, 20-39, 40-59, 60-79, and ≥80 years). Age, gender, and BMI comparisons with clinical phenotype were made using χ(2) and Kruskal-Wallis tests (SAS V9.2). RESULTS: Of all the patients, 51.3% were male, average age was 67.112.7 years, and average disease duration was 9.99.1 years. More girls than boys were diagnosed during adolescence and more men than women during adulthood (2060 years). No gender differences existed when age at diagnosis was 60 years. Patients were obese on average (BMI: 30.5±6.1 kg/m(2)) and had significantly higher BMI values than German population peers. The BMI gap was widest in the younger age categories and closed with increasing age. Adult women were significantly more obese than men. Obese patients more often had elevated HbA1c (≥7.5%), hypertension or dyslipidemia (irrespective of age), microalbuminuria (adults), or retinopathy (elderly) than nonobese patients. More men than women (20-60 years) had hypertension, dyslipidemia, or microalbuminuria while more women than men (≥60 years) had hypertension or dyslipidemia. CONCLUSION: During puberty, more girls than boys were diagnosed with T2DM while during adulthood males predominated. T2DM manifested at comparatively lower BMI in males, and younger patients were more obese at diagnosis. Age, gender, and BMI were also associated with poor metabolic control and cardiovascular disease comorbidities/complications.

Multiple complications and frequent severe hypoglycaemia in 'elderly' and 'old' patients with Type 1 diabetes.

AIM: Elderly and old patients with Type 1 diabetes represent a growing population that requires thorough diabetes care. The increasing relevance of this subgroup, however, plays only a minor role in the literature. Here, we describe elderly patients with Type 1 diabetes on the basis of a large multi-centre database in order to point out special features of this population. METHOD: Data of 64609 patients with Type 1 diabetes treated by 350 qualified diabetes treatment centres were assessed and analysed by age group. RESULTS: Compared with the age group ≤ 60 years, patients aged >60 years (n=3610 61-80 years and n=377 >80 years old) were characterized by a longer diabetes duration (27.7 vs. 7.7 years), an almost double risk for severe hypoglycaemia (40.1 vs. 24.3/100 patient-years), a lower level of HbA(1c) [60 vs. 67 mmol/mol (7.6 vs. 8.3%)] and higher percentages of microalbuminuria (34.5 vs. 15.6%), diabetic retinopathy (45.2 vs. 8.3%), myocardial infarction (9.0 vs. 0.4%) or stroke (6.8 vs. 0.3%). Elderly patients used insulin pumps less frequently (12.2 vs. 23.8%), but more often used conventional premixed insulin treatment (10.8 vs. 3.8%). Differences between elderly and younger patient groups were significant, respectively. CONCLUSION: Diabetes care of elderly patients with Type 1 diabetes involves individualized treatment concepts. Increased hypoglycaemia risk and functional impairment attributable to diabetes-associated and/or age-related disorders must be taken into account.