Prescription Trends on the Preference of Hypoglycemic Agents for the Management of Diabetes Mellitus in India

Abstract

The management of type 2 diabetes requires multifactorial approach in terms of diet, lifestyle modification and pharmacological treatment to prevent or delay complications and maintain the quality of life. Several studies have been conducted to enhance the treatment of type 2 diabetes. However, there was a lack of data regarding the prescription pattern of antidiabetics among clinicians. So, a cross-sectional, questionnaire based study was conducted to gather information about the prevalence, risk factors, and management of diabetes within a population. The data was collected from 551 doctors across all over India. About 44% doctors reported that 5-10 patients per week were newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. In this study, 66% of the doctors reported cardiovascular events as a major complication and 28% of the doctors reported renal complications in uncontrolled type 2 diabetes patients. 48% of the 551 clinicians used DPP4 inhibitors as an add on, followed by 30% who reported the use of SGLT2 inhibitors. Notably, 92% of the participants reported urinary tract infection as the most common undesirable effect in their patients, with the usage of dapagliflozin. Nearly 30% of the clinicians in our survey have prescribed SGLT2 inhibitors for patients who are at >50% risk of developing chronic kidney disease. The results from our study, stated that most of the clinicians use DPP4 inhibitors and SGLT2 inhibitors as an add on to metformin in patients with a failure to control the glycaemic index. Dapagliflozin is prescribed not only to control the glycaemic index but also to reduce the hospitalization due to heart failure and other cardiovascular and renal co-morbidities.