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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2013 Jul 1.
Published in final edited form as: J Diabetes Complications. 2012 May 31;26(4):301–307. doi: 10.1016/j.jdiacomp.2012.04.001

Figure 2. Prescription Patterns for Diabetic Medications Received by U.S. Medicare Beneficiaries, 2009.

Figure 2

Figure 2 illustrates regional variation and temporal changes in the prescription rates of metformin, sulfonylureas, thiazolidinediones, and sulfonylureas between 2007 and 2009. These maps show the percentage of diabetic patients in each of the 306 hospital referral regions receiving a particular drug class. Patients receiving combination therapy were counted as receiving multiple diabetic medications. A comparison of the 2007 and 2009 maps shows that prescriptions increased for metformin and decreased for sulfonylureas and thiazolidinediones during the study period. The prescription rate for insulin was slightly higher in 2009 compared to 2007, but was decreased from 2006.