Twelve-year trends in pharmacologic treatment of type 2 diabetes among patients with heart failure in the United States.

Overview

We conducted a cross-sectional analysis using a database from commercial health plans in the United States to describe trends in the use of antidiabetic medications among patients with type 2 diabetes and heart failure (HF) from 2006 through 2017. We used loop diuretic dose as a surrogate for HF severity (mild HF 0-40 mg/day, moderate-severe HF >40 mg/day). We assessed antidiabetic medication dispensing in the 90 days following HF diagnosis. Over the 12-year period, we identified an increase in the use of metformin (39.2% vs. 62.6%), dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors (DPP-4i) (0.5% vs. 17.1%) and sodium-glucose co-transporter-2 inhibitors (SGLT-2i) (0.0% vs. 9.0%), but a decrease in the use of sulphonylureas (47.8% vs. 27.8%) and thiazolidinediones (TZDs) (31.7% vs. 5.3%). In 2017, patients with moderate-severe HF more commonly used insulin (43.1%); a majority of mild HF patients used metformin (62.8%). A proportion of patients with moderate-severe HF used TZDs (4.4%). Among patients with diabetes and HF, the use of metformin and DPP-4i rapidly increased, but a proportion of patients with moderate-severe HF continued to use TZDs. Despite their promising cardiovascular safety profile, SGLT-2i use remains limited.