Non-Persistence and Non-Adherence of Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in Therapy with GLP-1 Receptor Agonists: A Retrospective Analysis.

Abstract

IntroductionOur main aim was to assess the level of persistence and adherence to therapy with glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients in the United Kingdom (UK) and Germany, also by comparing once- (OD) with twice-a-day (BID) therapy.MethodsWe used two large retrospective datasets: a German claims dataset and the UK General Practitioner (GP)-based Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) dataset (2010–2012). All continuously insured T2DM patients with at least one outpatient/inpatient T2DM diagnosis were observed starting with the first prescription of a GLP-1 receptor agonist. Non-persistence (NP) was defined as treatment gap >90 days. Non-adherence (NA) was defined as medication possession ratio <80%, calculated during a period in which a patient continued therapy (no treatment gap >90 days) only.ResultsIn the UK sample, 1905 T2DM patients started a treatment with GLP-1 receptor agonists (mean age: 55.5 years, 47.2% female). In the German sample, 1627 T2DM patients started a treatment with GLP-1 receptor agonists (mean age: 56.6 years, 51.4% female). Percentage of NP patients after 12 months was 29.5% in the UK and 36.4% in the German sample. In both countries, a BID treatment was associated with a higher probability to discontinue a treatment with GLP-1 receptor agonists earlier than an OD treatment (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.431 in UK and HR = 1.314 in Germany). The percentages of patients considered NA were 20.2%/20.0%/20.5% (all/OD/BID) for the UK sample, and 19.9%/19.2%/21.8% (all/OD/BID) for the German sample.ConclusionNP and NA to treatment with GLP-1 receptor agonists in both UK and Germany appear to be similar. Persistence to OD treatment is higher than to BID treatment in both the UK and Germany.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s13300-015-0149-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.