Intensification of antihyperglycemic therapy among patients with incident diabetes: a Surveillance Prevention and Management of Diabetes Mellitus (SUPREME-DM) study

Antihyperglycemic medication intensification practices among patients with incident diabetes are incompletely understood. We characterized the first intensification the year after oral antihyperglycemic medication initiation among incident diabetes patients. This retrospective cohort study across 11 US health systems included adults identified with incident diabetes between 2005 and 2009 who started oral antihyperglycemic monotherapy or combination therapy within 6?months after diabetes identification. We determined intensification, defined as increased index medication dosage, addition of another oral medication, or switch to/addition of insulin 31-365?days after initial antihyperglycemic dispensing. Cox regression was used to assess intensification for patient, temporal, and system covariates, adjusting for glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) as a time-dependent variable. Among 41,233 patients, 33.5% and 45.3% had treatment intensified within 6 and 12?months, respectively. This first intensification was most often with increased index medication dosage (78%), least often with insulin (<1%). HbA1c% was strongly associated with intensification (adjusted hazard ratios [HR] 1.59, 3.62, 4.44, and 5.52 for HbA1c 6.5% to <7%, 7% to <7.5%, 7.5 to <8%, and ?8%, respectively, all P?

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