Higher Compliance with Treatment Administration Instructions for Injectable Dulaglutide versus Oral Semaglutide Reported by People with Type 2 Diabetes in Clinical Practice Settings in Spain: The TRU-Experience Study.

PURPOSE

This study compared patient-reported compliance with package leaflet administration instructions of two glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs) for the treatment of type 2 diabetes (T2D): weekly injectable dulaglutide and daily oral semaglutide.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

This was an observational cross-sectional study conducted in Endocrinology Units in Spain. Patients with T2D receiving weekly injectable dulaglutide or daily oral semaglutide at study enrolment who had initiated treatment 3-12 months before were consecutively recruited during routine visits. Clinical data were extracted from the participants´ medical records. An ad-hoc questionnaire asked how often all and each of the administration instructions specific to each treatment were being followed (eg, timing, steps of intake). Compliance in both groups was calculated using relative and absolute frequencies and matching using the FMA model. The relationship between compliance and sociodemographic/clinical variables was assessed using bivariate analyses. Logistic regression analyses were performed to identify predictors of compliance.

RESULTS

A total of 95 participants treated with weekly injectable dulaglutide and 135 participants treated with daily oral semaglutide were evaluated. More participants treated with weekly injectable dulaglutide (96.8%) than participants treated with daily oral semaglutide (90.4%) were compliant with all package leaflet administration instructions. After adjusting for potential between-group imbalances, higher compliance in the weekly injectable dulaglutide group compared with the daily oral semaglutide group was observed (odds ratio=3.2, 95% confidence interval 1.4-21.3).

CONCLUSION

Compliance with package leaflet administration instructions was significantly higher in patients with T2D receiving weekly injectable dulaglutide compared to those receiving daily oral semaglutide. This type of real-world compliance data can inform strategies to improve patient education and adherence, and physician prescribing practices, with the goal of ultimately leading to better clinical outcomes and quality of life.