Effect of different methods for estimating persistence and adherence to new glucose-lowering drugs: results of an observational, inception cohort study in Portugal

Comparing opioid types in the persistence of opioid use following surgical admission: a study protocol for a retrospective observational linkage study comparing tapentadol and oxycodone in Australia

INTRODUCTION

Each year, an estimated two million Australians commence opioids, with 50 000 developing longer-term (persistent) opioid use. An estimated 3%-10% of opioid-naïve patients prescribed opioids following surgery develop persistent opioid use. This study will compare rates of persistent opioid use between two commonly used postoperative opioids, oxycodone and tapentadol, to understand if initial postoperative opioid type is important in determining longer-term outcomes.

METHODS AND ANALYSIS

A retrospective data linkage study that analyses administrative data from hospital and community pharmacies. Data will be obtained from at least four pharmacies that service large hospitals with comparable supplies of oxycodone and tapentadol. The study will include at least 6000 patients who have been dispensed a supply of oxycodone or tapentadol to take home following their discharge from a surgical ward. The primary outcome measure will be persistent opioid use at 3 months postdischarge for opioid naïve people who receive either immediate release tapentadol or immediate release oxycodone. Hierarchical logistic regression models will be used to predict persistent opioid use, controlling for covariates including comorbidities.

ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION

Ethics approval has been obtained through the Monash University Human Research Ethics Committee (29977). We will present project findings in a peer-reviewed journal article, in accordance with the REporting of studies Conducted using Observational Routinely-collected health Data statement.

Polypharmacy, potentially serious clinically relevant drug-drug interactions, and inappropriate medicines in elderly people with type 2 diabetes and their impact on quality of life

The aim of the study is to investigate the patterns of polypharmacy, clinical-relevant drug-drug interactions (DDIs), and potentially inappropriate medicines (PIMs), and whether polypharmacy, potential serious clinically-relevant DDIs, or PIMs can be associated with low quality of life (QoL) index scores of older adults with type 2 diabetes (T2D). A cross-sectional study was conducted using data of 670 elderly T2D sub-cohort from a nationwide pharmacy-based intensive monitoring study of inception cohort of T2D in Portugal. 72.09% were found on polypharmacy (≥5 medicines). Participants on polypharmacy were mostly females (P = .0115); more obese (P = .0131); have more comorbid conditions (P < .0001); more diabetes complications (P < .0001); and use more of glucose lowering drugs (P = .0326); insulin (P < .0001); chronic medicines (P < .0001); and have higher diabetes duration (P = .0088) than those without polypharmacy. 10.59% of the participants were found to have potential serious clinically relevant DDIs. The most frequent drug-combinations were angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors with angiotensin-receptor blockers (ARBs), aspirin with Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), and clopidogrel with calcium channel blockers. PIMs are found in 36.11% of the participants. The most common PIMs were benzodiazepines, long-acting sulfonylureas, and iron overdose. The adjusted multivariate models show that Polypharmacy, PIMs, and potential serious clinically relevant DDIs were associated with lower QoL index scores (OR 1.80 95% CI 1.15-2.82), (OR 1.57 95% CI 1.07-2.28), and (OR 1.34 95% CI 0.73-2.48) respectively. The study shows that polypharmacy, potential serious clinical-relevant DDIs, and PIMs may correlate with risk of reduced health related QoL outcome of older adults with T2D.

Intensive monitoring of adverse drug events associated with the use of new glucose-lowering drugs: results from an inception cohort study in Portugal

AIMS

To determine the frequency and the time-course profile of adverse drug events associated with new glucose-lowering drugs in daily practice and to explore factors potentially associated to these events.

METHODS

An inception cohort study was implemented. Adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus initiating a dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitor, a glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist or a sodium-glucose co-transporter-2 inhibitor were eligible for inclusion. Data were collected through baseline and follow-up telephone questionnaires, administered at 2 weeks, 3 months and 6 months. Kaplan-Meier curves and log-rank were computed to compare the time to adverse drug event onset. Cox models were used to explore potential factors associated with adverse drug events.

RESULTS

A total of 1328 participants were recruited to the study. In all, 1118 adverse drug events were reported (of which 36% were not listed in the summary of product characteristics) by 41% of participants. The median latency time of adverse drug events reported in ≥1% of participants ranged from 0 to 2 days. Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist and sodium-glucose co-transporter-2 inhibitor subgroups were associated with an increased likelihood of adverse drug event reporting when compared with the dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitor subgroup. A total of 328 glucose-lowering drugs were withdrawn, more than half as a result of an adverse drug event.

CONCLUSIONS

More than two-fifths of participants reported an adverse drug event; dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors led to the highest proportion of unlabelled adverse drug events. Adverse drug event latency time data show that counselling and adverse drug event management should be proactively addressed from treatment initiation. There should be greater focus on prevalent new users of glucose-lowering drugs, who were more complex participants in this study in terms of type 2 diabetes disease, as they were more likely to report an adverse drug event than the incident new users.

Exploring geographic variation of and influencing factors for utilization of four diabetes management measures in Swiss population using claims data

INTRODUCTION

Four strongly recommended diabetes management measures are biannual glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) testing, annual eye examination, kidney function examination, and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) testing in patients below 75 years. We aimed to describe regional variation in the utilization of the four measures across small regions in Switzerland and to explore potential influencing factors.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS

We conducted a cross-sectional study of adult patients with drug-treated diabetes in 2014 using claims data. Four binary outcomes represented adherence to the recommendations. Possible influencing factors included sociodemographics, health insurance preferences, and clinical characteristics. We performed multilevel modeling with Medstat regions as the higher level. We calculated the median odds ratio (MOR) and checked spatial autocorrelation in region level residuals using Moran's I statistic. When significant, we further conducted spatial multilevel modeling.

RESULTS

Of 49 198 patients with diabetes (33 957 below 75 years), 69.6% had biannual HbA1c testing, 44.3% each had annual eye examination and kidney function examination, and 55.5% of the patients below 75 years had annual LDL testing. The effects of health insurance preferences were substantial and consistent. Having any supplementary insurance (ORs across measures were between 1.08 and 1.28), having supplementary hospital care insurance (1.08-1.30), having chosen a lower deductible level (eg, SFr2500 compared with SFr300: 0.57-0.69), and having chosen a managed care model (1.04-1.17) were positively associated with recommendations adherence. The MORs (1.27-1.33) showed only moderate unexplained variation, and we observed inconsistent spatial patterns of unexplained variation across the four measures.

CONCLUSION

Our findings indicate that the uptake of strongly recommended measures in diabetes management could possibly be optimized by providing further incentives to patients and care providers through insurance scheme design. The absence of marked regional variation implies limited potential for improvement by targeted regional intervention, while provider-specific promotion may be more impactful.