Experimental and clinical endocrinology & diabetes : official journal, German Society of Endocrinology [and] German Diabetes AssociationAug 18, 2022

Do Prescriptions of Two Diabetes Drugs in Germany Follow Guidelines for Type 2 Diabetes with Heart Disease?

GLP-1 Therapies Weekly Brief ↗PubMed ↗DOI ↗

Updated Apr 5, 2026

Abstract

Overall, 35% of patients with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes were treated with glucose-lowering drugs during the first year after diagnosis.

GLP-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RA) were prescribed to only 2.4% of patients, while sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors (SGLT2i) were prescribed to 8.5%.
Following the 2018 ADA/EASD consensus guidelines, the prescription rates for GLP-1RA and SGLT2i increased among patients with and without pre-existing cardiovascular disease.
The use of GLP-1RA rose from 5.7% to 9.2% in patients with cardiovascular disease and from 5.2% to 7.6% in those without.
SGLT2i use increased from 13.9% to 20.4% in patients with cardiovascular disease and from 12.1% to 16.6% in those without.
Obesity was associated with the highest likelihood (odds ratio of 4.5) of receiving GLP-1RA, while cardiovascular disease had a moderate association with prescriptions for both SGLT2i and GLP-1RA.

Simplified

OBJECTIVES: To analyze whether prescription use of GLP-1RA and SGLT2i in individuals with type 2 diabetes with cardiovascular disease (CVD) has increased after the ADA/EASD consensus guidelines (2018) in a German Real-World setting and which clinical characteristics are associated with prescription use of these drugs.

METHODS: The Disease Analyzer database (IQVIA) comprises a representative panel of 1,373 general practitioners, diabetologists, and cardiologists throughout Germany (01/2015-12/2020: 12.6 million patients). Newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes (n=45,531) was identified by ICD-10 codes (E11). Matching (1:1) on practice specialty, sex, age, and year of diabetes diagnosis was performed for CVD. Logistic regression models were fitted to obtain adjusted odds ratios (OR) for characteristics associated with prescription use (median follow-up: 1.9 years).

RESULTS: Overall, 35% of patients (n=16,006) were treated with glucose-lowering drugs during the first year after type 2 diabetes diagnosis (HbA1c≥7.0%: 80%). GLP-1RA (2.4%) and SGLT2i (8.5%) were rarely prescribed. After the consensus, use of GLP-1RA and SGLT2i increased, however, almost independently of pre-existing CVD (12/2019-11/2020 vs. 12/2017-11/2018: yes, no): GLP-1RA: from 5.7 to 9.2%, 5.2 to 7.6%; SGLT2i: from 13.9 to 20.4%, 12.1 to 16.6%. Among cardiovascular risk factors, the largest OR for GLP-1RA was for obesity (4.5; 95%CI: 3.2-6.3). CVD was moderately related with SGLT2i (1.45; 1.32-1.60) and GLP-1RA (1.35; 1.08-1.69) prescriptions. A weak association was observed between SGLT2i and heart failure (1.18; 95%CI: 1.05-1.32).

CONCLUSION: National prescription use of GLP-1RA and SGLT2i did not come close to the recommendation in subjects with CVD issued by the 2018 ADA/EASD consensus.

Full Text

Full text is available at the source.

View Full Text ↗

Funding

Competing interests

WR reports receiving consulting fees for attending educational sessions or advisory boards from AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, and NovoNordisk and institutional research grants from NovoNordisk outside of the topic of the current review. MK and EM are employees of NovoNordisk, Germany, the study sponsor . SDB and KK are employees of IQVIA, Germany.

PubMed

Do Prescriptions of Two Diabetes Drugs in Germany Follow Guidelines for Type 2 Diabetes with Heart Disease?

Abstract

Full Text

Funding

Competing interests

You found one interesting study. We’ll send the next 7.

What Lands in Your Inbox Each Week:

Recent issues from the glp-1 therapies brief

Abstract

Full Text

Funding

Competing interests

Related papers

You found one interesting study. We’ll send the next 7.

What Lands in Your Inbox Each Week:

Recent issues from the glp-1 therapies brief