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. 2021 Aug 4;44(10):2302–2311. doi: 10.2337/dc20-2977

Table 1.

Study population

GLP-1RA initiators SGLT2i initiators DPP-4i initiators P value
(n = 75,395) (n = 58,234) (n = 91,884)
Demographics
 Age, years, mean (SD) 57.3 (12.9) 59.1 (12.0) 65.0 (12.9) <0.001
 Age-group, n (%) <0.001
  18–44 years 12,805 (17.0) 6,969 (12.0) 6,594 (7.2)
  45–64 years 38,628 (51.2) 31,016 (53.3) 33,855 (36.8)
  65–74 years 17,771 (23.6) 14,663 (25.2) 28,450 (31.0)
  ≥75 years 6,191 (8.2) 5,586 (9.6) 22,985 (25.0)
 Sex, n (%) <0.001
  Female 43,408 (57.6) 24,779 (42.6) 45,149 (49.1)
  Male 31,987 (42.4) 33,455 (57.4) 46,735 (50.9)
 Race/ethnicity, n (%) <0.001
  White 47,017 (62.4) 35,225 (60.5) 51,096 (55.6)
  Black 11,742 (15.6) 8,087 (13.9) 16,468 (17.9)
  Hispanic 10,148 (13.5) 9,090 (15.6) 14,994 (16.3)
  Asian 1,761 (2.3) 2,463 (4.2) 4,662 (5.1)
  Unknown 4,727 (6.3) 3,369 (5.8) 4,664 (5.1)
U.S. region, n (%) <0.001
 Midwest 18,346 (24.3) 13,728 (23.6) 20,679 (22.5)
 Northeast 7,153 (9.5) 5,760 (9.9) 12,941 (14.1)
 South 41,283 (54.8) 32,106 (55.1) 49,480 (53.9)
 West 8,613 (11.4) 6,640 (11.4) 8,784 (9.6)
Insurance type, n (%) <0.001
 Commercial 45,033 (59.7) 35,543 (61.0) 35,233 (38.3)
 Medicare Advantage 30,362 (40.3) 22,691 (39.0) 56,651 (61.7)
Index year, n (%) <0.001
 2016 12,347 (16.4) 11,515 (19.8) 22,514 (24.5)
 2017 16,887 (22.4) 14,263 (24.5) 25,131 (27.4)
 2018 20,373 (27.0) 13,877 (23.8) 23,041 (25.1)
 2019 25,788 (34.2) 18,579 (31.9) 21,198 (23.1)
Clinical characteristics
 Baseline medication fills, n (%)
  None 21,132 (28.0) 12,393 (21.3) 22,481 (24.5) <0.001
  Metformin 39,414 (52.3) 37,050 (63.6) 52,024 (56.6) <0.001
  Sulfonylureas 17,475 (23.2) 17,276 (29.7) 30,495 (33.2) <0.001
  Thiazolidinediones 3,615 (4.8) 3,301 (5.7) 4,120 (4.5) <0.001
  Insulin (any) 22,493 (29.8) 10,522 (18.1) 13,265 (14.4) <0.001
  Basal insulin 19,608 (26.0) 9,107 (15.6) 11,633 (12.7) <0.001
  Bolus insulin 11,105 (14.7) 4,774 (8.2) 5,253 (5.7) <0.001
  Other medication(s) 173 (0.2) 123 (0.2) 268 (0.3) 0.004
 Treatment type, n (%) <0.001
  First-line 16,164 (21.4) 7,944 (13.6) 14,996 (16.3)
  Second-line 59,231 (78.6) 50,290 (86.4) 76,888 (83.7)
 Diabetes complications count, n, mean (SD) 1.0 (1.3) 0.9 (1.1) 1.2 (1.3) <0.001
 Diabetes complications count, n (%) <0.001
  0 35,375 (46.9) 28,440 (48.8) 35,792 (39.0)
  1 18,860 (25.0) 15,860 (27.2) 23,986 (26.1)
  2 10,689 (14.2) 7,958 (13.7) 15,850 (17.3)
  3 6,081 (8.1) 3,827 (6.6) 9,413 (10.2)
  ≥4 4,390 (5.8) 2,149 (3.7) 6,843 (7.4)
 Comorbidities, n (%)
  Retinopathy 9,951 (13.2) 6,571 (11.3) 12,645 (13.8) <0.001
  Nephropathy 14,149 (18.8) 7,677 (13.2) 22,773 (24.8) <0.001
  Neuropathy 19,510 (25.9) 12,457 (21.4) 22,786 (24.8) <0.001
  Peripheral vascular disease 9,462 (12.5) 6,415 (11.0) 14,613 (15.9) <0.001
  Dementia 1,137 (1.5) 530 (0.9) 4,109 (4.5) <0.001
  MI 2,445 (3.2) 2,277 (3.9) 4,327 (4.7) <0.001
  Heart failure 6,453 (8.6) 4,210 (7.2) 11,383 (12.4) <0.001
  Cerebrovascular disease 5,829 (7.7) 4,360 (7.5) 11,291 (12.3) <0.001
  Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease 9,102 (12.1) 6,052 (10.4) 13,345 (14.5) <0.001
  Cancer 4,546 (6.0) 3,506 (6.0) 8,087 (8.8) <0.001
  Cirrhosis 692 (0.9) 495 (0.9) 1,108 (1.2) <0.001
  Prior severe hyperglycemia 449 (0.6) 230 (0.4) 587 (0.6) <0.001
  Prior severe hypoglycemia 545 (0.7) 245 (0.4) 1,208 (1.3) <0.001
Prescriber specialty, n (%) <0.001
 Primary care 38,021 (50.4) 34,208 (58.7) 56,152 (61.1)
 Endocrinology 11,267 (14.9) 6,268 (10.8) 5,554 (6.0)
 Cardiology 272 (0.4) 842 (1.4) 703 (0.8)
 Nephrology 160 (0.2) 131 (0.2) 485 (0.5)
 Other 11,339 (15.0) 7,361 (12.6) 7,807 (8.5)
 Unknown 14,336 (19.0) 9,424 (16.2) 21,183 (23.1)
HbA1c available within prior 6 months 27,843 (36.9) 24,189 (41.5) 37,022 (40.3) <0.001
HbA1c level, %, median (IQR)* 8.1 (6.7, 9.7) 8.3 (7.3, 9.7) 8.0 (7.1, 9.3) <0.001
HbA1c category, n (%)* <0.001
 ≤5.6% 1,931 (6.9) 299 (1.2) 588 (1.6)
 5.7–6.4% 3,936 (14.1) 1,760 (7.3) 3,424 (9.2)
 6.5–6.9% 2,249 (8.1) 2,068 (8.5) 3,806 (10.3)
 7.0–7.9% 4,890 (17.6) 6,075 (25.1) 10,247 (27.7)
 8.0–8.9% 4,998 (18.0) 5,238 (21.7) 7,956 (21.5)
 9.0–9.9% 3,705 (13.3) 3,357 (13.9) 4,502 (12.2)
 ≥10.0% 6,134 (22.0) 5,392 (22.3) 6,499 (17.6)

Baseline characteristics of adults with type 2 diabetes at the time of their first prescription fill of a GLP-1RA, SGLT2i, or DPP-4i.

*

The denominator for HbA1c values are patients with baseline HbA1c data available.