Dataset Information

A Retrospective Analysis of Therapeutic Inertia in Type 2 Diabetes Management Across a Diverse Population of Health Care Organizations in the USA.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

If their target glycated hemoglobin (HbA_1c) is not achieved after 3 months, timely treatment intensification is recommended in people with type 2 diabetes to maintain glycemic control and minimize vascular complications. We retrospectively investigated potential therapeutic inertia in the management of type 2 diabetes in multiple health care organizations across the USA.

Methods

Electronic health records were analyzed from 22 American Medical Group Association (AMGA) health care organizations. Bolus insulin-naïve patients with type 2 diabetes and HbA_1c???8.0% (??64 mmol/mol) at baseline were followed for 24 months to identify the frequency and average duration of therapeutic inertia (no new class of glucose-lowering medication prescribed, or not achieving their target HbA_1c [ResultsThe study cohort comprised almost 28,000 patients. Therapeutic inertia was observed in???50% of patients after 6 months, and in?>?10% after 24 months. Less therapeutic inertia was observed in patients receiving one or no oral antidiabetic drugs (OADs) (36% or 28%, respectively, at 6 months), while more inertia was seen following multiple OADs or basal insulin (54% of those on baseline basal insulin at 6 months). Although an observable action was recorded for 90% of patients, many (44%) had still not achieved their target HbA_1c after 24 months.

Conclusion

The results corroborate the presence of therapeutic inertia in people with type 2 diabetes, suggesting that treatment intensification guidelines are not being followed. Extensive variability in the presence of therapeutic inertia was observed both across and within organizations; investigating this further and sharing best practices across providers might help improve the quality of patient care at organizational and national levels.

SUBMITTER: Rattelman CR

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7846632 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

A Retrospective Analysis of Therapeutic Inertia in Type 2 Diabetes Management Across a Diverse Population of Health Care Organizations in the USA.

Rattelman Cori R CR Ciemins Elizabeth L EL Stempniewicz Nikita N Mocarski Michelle M Ganguly Rahul R Cuddeback John K JK

Diabetes therapy : research, treatment and education of diabetes and related disorders 20210118 2

<h4>Introduction</h4>If their target glycated hemoglobin (HbA<sub>1c</sub>) is not achieved after 3 months, timely treatment intensification is recommended in people with type 2 diabetes to maintain glycemic control and minimize vascular complications. We retrospectively investigated potential therapeutic inertia in the management of type 2 diabetes in multiple health care organizations across the USA.<h4>Methods</h4>Electronic health records were analyzed from 22 American Medical Group Associat ...[more]

PMID: 33460018

Similar Datasets

Project description:BackgroundClinical inertia can lead to poor glycemic control among type 2 diabetes patients. However, there is paucity of information on clinical inertia in low- and middle-income countries including Malaysia. This study aimed to determine the time to treatment intensification among T2D patients with HbA1c of ≥7% (≥53 mmol/mol) in Malaysian public health clinics. The proportion of patients with treatment intensification and its associated factors were also determined.Material and methodsThis was a five-year retrospective open cohort study using secondary data from the National Diabetes Registry. The study setting was all public health clinics (n = 47) in the state of Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia. Time to treatment intensification was defined as the number of years from the index year until the addition of another oral antidiabetic drug or initiation of insulin. Life table survival analysis based on best-worst case scenarios was used to determine the time to treatment intensification. Discrete-time proportional hazards model was fitted for the factors associated with treatment intensification.ResultsThe mean follow-up duration was 2.6 (SD 1.1) years. Of 7,646 patients, the median time to treatment intensification was 1.29 years (15.5 months), 1.58 years (19.0 months) and 2.32 years (27.8 months) under the best-, average- and worst-case scenarios respectively. The proportion of patients with treatment intensification was 45.4% (95% CI: 44.2-46.5), of which 34.6% occurred only after one year. Younger adults, overweight, obesity, use of antiplatelet medications and poorer HbA1c were positively associated with treatment intensification. Patients treated with more oral antidiabetics were less likely to have treatment intensification.ConclusionClinical inertia is present in the management of T2D patients in Malaysian public health clinics. We recommend further studies in lower- and middle-income countries to explore its causes so that targeted strategies can be developed to address this issue.

Project description:BackgroundGood-quality evidence has shown that early glycaemic, blood pressure and LDL-cholesterol control in people with type 2 diabetes (T2D) leads to better outcomes. In spite of that, diseases control have been inadequate globally, and therapeutic inertia could be one of the main cause. Evidence on therapeutic inertia has been lacking at primary care setting. This retrospective cohort study aimed to determine the proportions of therapeutic inertia when treatment targets of HbA1c, blood pressure and LDL-cholesterol were not achieved in adults with T2D at three public health clinics in Malaysia.MethodsThe index prescriptions were those that when the annual blood tests were reviewed. Prescriptions of medication were verified, compared to the preceding prescriptions and classified as 1) no change, 2) stepping up and 3) stepping down. The treatment targets were HbA1c < 7.0% (53 mmol/mol), blood pressure (BP) < 140/90 mmHg and LDL-cholesterol < 2.6 mmol/L. Therapeutic inertia was defined as no change in the medication use in the present of not reaching the treatment targets. Descriptive, univariable, multivariable logistic regression and sensitive analyses were conducted.ResultsA total of 552 cohorts were available for the assessment of therapeutic inertia (78.9% completion rate). The mean (SD) age and diabetes duration were 60.0 (9.9) years and 5.0 (6.0) years, respectively. High therapeutic inertia were observed in oral anti-diabetic (61-72%), anti-hypertensive (34-65%) and lipid-lowering therapies (56-77%), and lesser in insulin (34-52%). Insulin therapeutic inertia was more likely among those with shorter diabetes duration (adjusted OR 0.9, 95% CI 0.87, 0.98). Those who did not achieve treatment targets were less likely to experience therapeutic inertia: HbA1c ≥ 7.0%: adjusted OR 0.10 (0.04, 0.24); BP ≥ 140/90 mmHg: 0.28 (0.16, 0.50); LDL-cholesterol ≥ 2.6 mmol/L: 0.37 (0.22, 0.64).ConclusionsAlthough therapeutic intensifications were more likely in the presence of non-achieved treatment targets but the proportions of therapeutic inertia were high. Possible causes of therapeutic inertia were less of the physician behaviours but might be more of patient-related non-adherence or non-availability of the oral medications. These observations require urgent identification and rectification to improve disease control, avoiding detrimental health implications and costly consequences.Trial registrationNumber NCT02730754 , April 6, 2016.

Dataset Information

A Retrospective Analysis of Therapeutic Inertia in Type 2 Diabetes Management Across a Diverse Population of Health Care Organizations in the USA.

Introduction

Methods

Conclusion

Publications

A Retrospective Analysis of Therapeutic Inertia in Type 2 Diabetes Management Across a Diverse Population of Health Care Organizations in the USA.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets