This study aimed at describing trends in the incidence of use of noninsulin glucose-lowering drugs (NIGLDs) between 2006 and 2013 in France. Repeated cross-sectional studies on NIGLD new users were performed annually from 2006 to 2013 within the Echantillon Généraliste des Bénéficiaires (EGB) database, a 1/97th representative sample of the population covered by the French healthcare insurance system. NIGLD included metformin, sulfonylureas, α-glucosidase inhibitors, thiazolidinediones, dipeptidylpeptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitors, glinides and glucagon-like peptide-1 analogues. New users were defined as patients with no delivery of any NIGLD (first-line new users) or no delivery of a NIGLD of the same class (add-on/switch new users) in the preceding year. Incidence rates of use and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were estimated per 1000 persons. Among the 507 043 persons included in the EGB in 2006, 2036 were identified as NIGLD first-line new users and 2192 as add-on/switch new users, which corresponded to an incidence of use of 4.0‰ (95%CI 3.8-4.2) and 4.3‰ (4.1-4.5), respectively. First-line incidence increased to 5.3‰ (5.1-5.5) in 2010 and then decreased to 4.2‰ (4.0-4.4) in 2013; add-on/switch incidence increased to 8.0‰ (7.8-8.2) in 2010 and then decreased to 5.3‰ (5.1-5.5) in 2013. This reduction was mainly related to DPP-4 inhibitors, whose use as add-on/switch NIGLDs was roughly halved between 2010 and 2013. Concomitantly, the use of sulfonylureas and glinides increased. In conclusion, after reaching a peak in 2010, the incidence of use of NIGLDs has markedly decreased in France. Since then, prescribers seem to have reverted to older and well-known therapies.
Keywords: drug utilization; glucose-lowering drugs; pharmacoepidemiology; type 2 diabetes.
© 2017 Société Française de Pharmacologie et de Thérapeutique.