Type II diabetes and its therapy in clinical practice - results from the standardised non-interventional registry...

Modern antidiabetic therapies should achieve low HbA1c values and avoid hypoglycaemic complications. The registry SIRTA included 1522 patients with type II diabetes mellitus (T2DM) from 306 German medical practices. Patients had an HbA1c > 6.5% under the maximum tolerated metformin dose. If required, they received combination therapy with other antidiabetics according to the guideline of the German Diabetes Society [Deutsche Diabetes Gesellschaft (DDG)] or usual medical practice. Patients were followed up for 6 months. The target criteria included the achievement of HbA1c target values and the emergence of severe hypoglycaemic episodes.

Most patients (64.0%) were planned to achieve an HbA1c target < 6.5%, the standard target recommended by the 2009 DDG guideline valid throughout the registry. Primarily to reduce the individual risk for hypoglycaemia, 32.4% of patients had a less strict HbA1c-target of 6.5-7.0%. These targets were achieved by 31.3% and 44.3% of patients, respectively. Combination therapies increased from 45% to 56% over the 6 months registry. Four patients had severe hypoglycaemias (0.26%).

The registry confirms results from other epidemiologic studies on the therapy of T2DM in everyday practice. The treatment strategies applied effectively reduced blood glucose and avoided severe hypoglycaemias. An early therapy of insufficiently controlled patients with T2DM is important, as lower baseline values facilitated achieving HbA1c targets.