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The following is a summary of “Adherence and persistence among people with type 2 diabetes newly initiating oral semaglutide versus DPP-4is in a US real-world setting,” published in the October 2024 issue of Primary Care by Lv et al.  

People with type 2 diabetes often stick to and continue their treatment when starting oral semaglutide, a GLP-1 receptor agonist, or a DPP-4 inhibitor in real-world settings.   

Researchers conducted a retrospective study comparing the adherence and persistence between those newly starting oral semaglutide and those on a DPP-4 inhibitor.   

They used the Merative^TM  MarketScan^® Commercial and Medicare databases for this retrospective cohort study. The index date was the first fill for each medication. Adherence proportion of days covered (PDC ≥0.8) was tracked over 12 months, while persistence measured days to discontinuation with a 45-day gap, comparing results with inverse probability treatment weighting.   

The results showed that in both the oral semaglutide (n=5485) and DPP-4i (n=4980) groups, similar adherence (PDC ≥0.8) rates were observed (41.6% vs. 42.9%; P=0.182), as well as persistence for ≥9 months (45.0% vs. 46.3%; P=0.185). The DPP-4i group used more anti-diabetic medication (ADM) classes during the follow-up period (mean±SD: 2.6±1.0 vs. 2.9±1.1, P<0.001), with 23.2% adding a GLP-1 RA.  

Investigators concluded that adherence and persistence rates were similar between groups, though oral semaglutide may offer advantages over DPP-4is by potentially lowering the need for extra anti-diabetic medications.  

Source: sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1751991824001268