Time to modification of antidiabetic therapy in patients over the age of 65 years with newly diagnosed diabetes mellitus.

AIMS: To determine the time elapsed from when a patient ≥ 65 years old is diagnosed with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and begins antidiabetic treatment until a change in treatment is required as well as the factors associated with the change.

METHODS: A retrospective study was conducted on patients 65 years or older with a first-time diagnosis of T2DM, and these patients were followed for 60 months until an addition or change was made to their antidiabetic drug regimen. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis was performed to determine the time elapsed until such a modification occurred.

RESULTS: We identified 13,573 patients with a mean age of 76.8 ± 7.7 years; 59.3% were women. A total of 9144 (67.4%) patients began treatment with a single antidiabetic drug, 4146 (30.5%) began with two, and 282 (2.1%) began with three, especially metformin (n = 10858, 80.0%), sulfonylureas (n = 4525, 33.3%), and insulins (n = 2334, 17.2%). A total of 52.4% (n = 7106) of the patients underwent treatment modification (addition, 39.3% and change, 13.1%). Only 11.2% (n = 600) of the additions corresponded to new antidiabetic drugs (GLP-1 receptor agonists, SGLT2 inhibitors, DPP4 inhibitors). The mean time to modification was 39.1 ± 23.4 months, and the modification occurred earlier in those who started with various antidiabetic agents (33.2 vs. 42.6 months; p < 0.001), men (38.3 vs. 40.4 months; p < 0.001), and those who took glibenclamide vs. metformin (31.9 vs. 44.6 months, p < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS: Most elderly adults who were diagnosed with T2DM after 65 years of age were treated with the appropriate medications. Therapy was modified for more than half of the patients, The addition of new antidiabetic drugs was infrequent.