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Differences by race and ethnicity in prescribing diabetes drugs called GLP-1 receptor agonists in the United States

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Abstract

Among 57,320 patients, significant racial disparities were observed in the prescribing of high-efficacy glucose-lowering medications for Type 2 diabetes.

  • Adjusted odds ratios for tirzepatide prescriptions were lower for non-White patients compared to White patients, with values of 0.6 for American Indian/Alaska Native, 0.3 for Asian, 0.7 for Black, 0.4 for Hispanic, and 0.4 for Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander.
  • For semaglutide, the adjusted odds ratios also indicated lower prescribing rates among non-White patients, with figures of 0.8 for American Indian/Alaska Native, 0.5 for Asian, 0.8 for Black, 0.6 for Hispanic, and 0.6 for Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander.
  • Dulaglutide showed mixed prescribing rates, with an adjusted odds ratio of 1.2 for American Indian/Alaska Native, but lower rates of 0.5 for Asian, 1.0 for Black, 0.9 for Hispanic, and 0.5 for Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander.
  • These findings may indicate systemic inequities in diabetes medication prescribing across different racial and ethnic groups.

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Full Text

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Funding

Competing interests

Competing interests Outside of the submitted work during the 36 months prior to publication, KK reports honoraria, consulting, sponsored research, writing assistance, licensing, or co-development in the past three years with Hitachi, Pfizer, RTI International, the University of California at San Francisco, Indiana University, the Regenstrief Foundation, the Korean Society of Medical Informatics, the University of Nebraska, NORC at the University of Chicago, the University of Pennsylvania, Yale University, Elsevier, MD Aware, Custom Clinical Decision Support, and the U.S. Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (via Security Risk Solutions) in the area of health information technology. KK was also an unpaid board member of the non-profit Health Level Seven International health IT standard development organization, he is an unpaid member of the U.S. Health Information Technology Advisory Committee, and he has helped develop a number of health IT tools which may be commercialized to enable wider impact. None of these relationships have direct relevance to the manuscript but are reported in the interest of full disclosure. Outside of the submitted, RH serves on a Data Safety Monitoring Board for Astellas Pharmaceuticals. Other authors have no conflict of interest to report.
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