Use of Glucose-Lowering Drugs for Type 2 Diabetes Among Danish Care Home Residents

Care home admission often reflects frailty and limited life expectancy, potentially altering the benefit-harm balance of glucose-lowering drug (GLD) treatment for type 2 diabetes (T2D). Real-world data on treatment patterns in this setting remain limited. We examined GLD use for T2D among Danish care home residents.

We conducted a nationwide, population-based drug utilisation study of all individuals admitted to Danish care homes between 2018 and 2023, using linked national health registries.

Among 88 658 residents (median age: 84 years [IQR: 78-90]; 60% women), 13% (n = 11 101) used GLDs for T2D at admission, with 84% continuing treatment beyond 2 years. Residents using GLDs at admission had long-standing diabetes (median duration: 12 years [IQR: 6.8-15]), relatively low glycated haemoglobin levels (median: 6.9% [IQR: 6.3-7.8]; 52 mmol/mol [45-62]) with little change around admission, and 43% used more than one GLD class, most commonly metformin (70%) and insulin (36%; basal: 30%; bolus: 16%). Use of glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists and sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors increased over time but remained limited (13% and 24%, respectively, in 2023), despite a high prevalence of cardiorenal disease (84%), and did not differ by cardiorenal disease status. Overall GLD use remained stable around admission, but initiation spiked 3 months before admission (36 initiators/10 000 residents), often following hospitalisation (63%) and primarily involved bolus insulin initiated by hospital physicians.

GLD use for T2D among Danish care home residents is high and shows limited deintensification and potential misalignment with guideline recommendations.