Table 1.

Baseline Characteristics of Primary Care Patients With First-Line Prescriptions of Metformin or Sulfonylureas: IMS HEALTH Disease Analyzer, Germany.

Variable	Metformin	Sulfonylurea
n	9103	1120
Age (years)	65.0 (10.6)*	71.3 (10.6)*
Time from first diabetes diagnosis in practice (years)	1.3 (2.4)	1.1 (2.1)
Males (%)	50.7*	47.3*
Private health insurance (%)	5.4	4.9
Diabetologist treatment (%)	2.6	2.4
Region (West Germany) (%)	79.6*	75.3*
Urban residencya (%)	29.4	27.9
eGFR (ml/min/1.73 m2)	81.1 (18.8)*	72.0 (21.0)*
HbA1c (%)c	7.3 (1.4)*	7.6 (1.6)*
BMI (kg/m2)d	31.6 (5.2)*	29.4 (5.1)*
Diagnosed comorbidity (%)
Coronary heart disease	28.7*	37.3*
Myocardial infarction	7.4*	11.0*
Stroke	7.1*	10.7*
Peripheral vascular disease	7.2*	12.9*
Congestive heart failure	13.1*	24.1*
Hypertension	81.8	82.9
Hyperlipidemia	55.4*	50.5
Retinopathy	0.9	1.4
Neuropathy	4.1	4.6
Depression	23.6	23.7
Charlson comorbidity score	1.3 (0.9)*	1.5 (1.2)*
Cotherapy (%)
ACE inhibitors	65.6*	70.8*
Diuretics	44.9*	61.4*
Statins	52.8	51.9

Data are means (SD) or proportions (%). ID, index date of new prescriptions of metformin or SU.

^a>100 000 inhabitants.

^beGFR: estimated glomerular filtration rate (MDRD formula).

^cRecorded values: MET n = 7658, SU: n = 947.

^dRecorded values: MET n = 3377, SU: n = 339.

^* P < .05 metformin vs sulfonylurea group