Gestational diabetes & diabetes in pregnancy
Use of metformin and insulin among pregnant women with gestation diabetes in the United Kingdom: A population‐based cohort study
Authors' conclusion
Metformin was the most prescribed medication for GDM, with large increases over the past 2 decades. The increasing use of oral-antidiabetic drugs during pregnancy, consistent with other regions, highlights the need for future studies examining effectiveness and safety of antidiabetic drug use during pregnancy.
Study context
- Population
- Pregnancies of women without prior diabetes who received a GDM diagnosis or initiated an antidiabetic drug after 20 weeks gestation, UK, 1998–2017pregnancies from 5393 women
- Participants
- 5,633 pregnancies
- Exposure
- Metformin initiators vs insulin initiators
- Outcome
- Use of metformin and insulin during pregnancy among women with GDM
- Follow-up
- 1998 to 2017
Methodological detailslinked data: Clinical Practice Research Datalink, pregnancy register, Hospital Episode Statistics
- Linked data: Clinical Practice Research Datalink, pregnancy register, Hospital Episode Statistics
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
Pharmacotherapy initiation
- Initiated pharmacotherapy
- 38.9%
- Metformin prescriptions (vs insulin), before 2007
- <5% of pregnancies
- Metformin prescriptions (vs insulin), 2008
- 42.5%
- Pregnancies on pharmacotherapy prescribed metformin first-line, 2015
- Over 85%
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
Rescue insulin among metformin initiators
- Initiated rescue insulin, typically within 40 days of metformin initiation
- 16%
Choice of GDM pharmacotherapy by characteristics
- Choice varied by smoking, obesity, race/ethnicity and general practice regions
Original publication
Use of metformin and insulin among pregnant women with gestation diabetes in the United Kingdom: A population‐based cohort study. Diabet Med. Published 17 April 2023. doi:10.
Composed by AI from the published abstract and checked against it. How Briefs are made →