A recent study published in Current Therapeutic Research revealed that updates in T2DM management guidelines resulted in a tremendous increase in the initiation of new antidiabetic medications over the study period.

The treatment patterns for type 2 diabetes mellitus are changing due to continuous updates in the guidelines for T2DM management. The study aimed to investigate the popularity of initiating various antidiabetic drugs and to examine how this treatment varies based on patient characteristics.

Researchers conducted a cross-sectional study from January 2018 to May 2022 to identify patients diagnosed with T2DM who initiated any antidiabetic therapy. The classes of antidiabetic drugs investigated included sulfonylureas, sodium–glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors, insulin, glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists, metformin, dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors, and thiazolidinediones.

The study included 433 patients with T2DM, of whom 61.20% were obese and 55.66% were females. Results showed that the most commonly initiated approach was monotherapy, with insulin being the most prescribed monotherapy. The most frequently used combination therapy was sulfonylurea and metformin. Among the medications prescribed, metformin was the most initiated (37.12%). For newly diagnosed patients in 2021, the trend toward prescribing newer medications such as SGLT-2 inhibitors (11.11%) and GLP-1 receptor agonists (8.70%) increased.