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. 2023 Nov 1;46(11):2044-2049.
doi: 10.2337/dc23-0448.

Association of Unmet Social Needs With Metformin Use Among Patients With Type 2 Diabetes

Connor Drake  1   2 , Jorge Morales Alfaro  1 , Dan V Blalock  2   3 , Kristin Ito  4 , Bryan C Batch  5 , Hayden B Bosworth  1   2   3   5   6 , Seth A Berkowitz  7 , Leah L Zullig  1   2
Affiliations

Association of Unmet Social Needs With Metformin Use Among Patients With Type 2 Diabetes

Connor Drake et al. Diabetes Care. .

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the relationship between social needs and metformin use among adults with type 2 diabetes (T2D).

Research design and methods: In a prospective cohort study of adults with T2D (n = 722), we linked electronic health record (EHR) and Surescripts (Surescripts, LLC) prescription network data to abstract data on patient-reported social needs and to calculate metformin adherence based on expected refill frequency using a proportion of days covered methodology.

Results: After adjusting for demographics and clinical complexity, two or more social needs (-0.046; 95% CI -0.089, 0.003), being uninsured (-0.052; 95% CI -0.095, -0.009) and while adjusting for other needs, being without housing (-0.069; 95% CI -0.121, -0.018) and lack of access to medicine/health care (-0.058; 95% CI -0.115, -0.000) were associated with lower use.

Conclusions: We found that overall social need burden and specific needs, particularly housing and health care access, were associated with clinically significant reductions in metformin adherence among patients with T2D.

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References

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