Alemayehu B, et al. – This retrospective cohort study aimed to assess diabetes–related healthcare resource use and associated costs in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM) treated with a sulfonylurea (SU), with and without hypoglycemia. Analysis of the study material showed the higher healthcare utilization and costs associated with hypoglycemia in patients with T2DM treated with an SU.

Methods

• In the study presented here, patients 18 years or older receiving SU monotherapy or as add-on to metformin were identified from a US healthcare claims database (MarketScan).
• Of one hundred thirteen thousand seven hundred forty three patients (56.8% male, average age 62.6 years), 61.6% were on SU/metformin dual therapy and 38.4% were on SU monotherapy, and 5% had one or more episodes of hypoglycemia during the twelve month follow up period.

Results

• Adjusted for baseline characteristics, patients with hypoglycemia were 3 times more likely than those without to use Emergency Room services (OR 3.04, 95% CI: 2.82, 3.25), almost 4 times more likely to have inpatient admissions (OR 3.84, 95% CI: 3.58, 4.12), and had more frequent physician office visits (4.3 vs 3.0 visits, p<0.01) in the twelve month follow up period.
• It was observed in the findings that the adjusted annual diabetes-related medical expenditure was 3 times higher in patients with hypoglycemia contrasted with those without ($6,884 vs $2,392, p<0.001).