Baseline characteristics of 112 591 patients over 50 years old with type 2 diabetes who were new users of either metformin or sulfonylureas between 2006 and 2018 before balancing of characteristics using inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW)
| Description | Metformin | Sulfonylureas | SMD (%) |
| n | 96 140 | 16 451 | |
| Gender (% male) | 46 107 (48.0) | 8439 (51.3) | 6.7 |
| Race (%) | 4.3 | ||
| African American | 9659 (10.0) | 1535 (9.3) | |
| Asian | 2394 (2.5) | 328 (2.0) | |
| Caucasian | 79 693 (82.9) | 13 853 (84.2) | |
| Other/unknown | 4394 (4.6) | 735 (4.5) | |
| Age at baseline (mean (SD)) | 65.65 (7.83) | 70.98 (8.71) | 64.4 |
| Age category: <75 years | 81 258 (84.5) | 9690 (58.9) | 59.3 |
| US region | 10.5 | ||
| Midwest (%) | 51 871 (54.0) | 9232 (56.1) | |
| Northeast (%) | 11 430 (11.9) | 2294 (13.9) | |
| South (%) | 24 678 (25.7) | 3706 (22.5) | |
| West (%) | 6153 (6.4) | 850 (5.2) | |
| Unknown (%) | 2008 (2.1) | 369 (2.2) | |
| eGFR (mean (SD)) | 88.47 (16.43) | 75.48 (21.73) | 67.4 |
| CKD group (%) | 67.2 | ||
| Stage 1 | 46 980 (48.9) | 4464 (27.1) | |
| Stage 2 | 44 276 (46.1) | 7708 (46.9) | |
| Stage 3 | 4884 (5.1) | 4279 (26.0) | |
| Smoking status (%) | 18.1 | ||
| Missing | 39 916 (41.5) | 8078 (49.1) | |
| Current | 7992 (8.3) | 1083 (6.6) | |
| Never | 24 377 (25.4) | 3197 (19.4) | |
| Previous | 23 855 (24.8) | 4093 (24.9) | |
| HbA1c (mean (SD)) | 6.76 (0.75) | 6.95 (0.83) | 24.3 |
| BMI (mean (SD)) | 33.46 (6.63) | 32.24 (6.60) | 18.6 |
| BMI group | 25.8 | ||
| Missing | 23 243 (24.2) | 5481 (33.3) | |
| Underweight (<20 kg/mg2) | 276 (0.3) | 86 (0.5) | |
| Normal (20–25 kg/mg2) | 4701 (4.9) | 1084 (6.6) | |
| Overweight (25–30 kg/mg2) | 18 766 (19.5) | 3302 (20.1) | |
| Obese (>30 kg/mg2) | 49 154 (51.1) | 6498 (39.5) | |
| HbA1c group | 27.3 | ||
| HbA1c: <7% (<53 mmol/mol) | 62 460 (65.0) | 8583 (52.2) | |
| HbA1c: 7%–8% (53–64 mmol/mol) | 26 245 (27.3) | 5721 (34.8) | |
| HbA1c: >8 (>64 mmol/mol) | 7435 (7.7) | 2147 (13.1) | |
| Length of follow-up in years (mean (SD)) | 3.02 (1.59) | 3.26 (1.60) | 15 |
| Year at first prescription (%) | 34.7 | ||
| 2007–2008 | 9016 (9.4) | 3190 (19.4) | |
| 2009–2010 | 13 001 (13.5) | 2696 (16.4) | |
| 2011–2012 | 21 752 (22.6) | 3748 (22.8) | |
| 2013–2014 | 30 202 (31.4) | 4325 (26.3) | |
| 2015–2016 | 22 169 (23.1) | 2492 (15.1) | |
| Number of outpatient visits prior to baseline (mean (SD)) | 24.36 (30.39) | 25.74 (34.85) | 4.2 |
| All-cause dementia (%) | 2256 (2.3) | 951 (5.8) | 17.5 |
| AD (%) | 754 (0.8) | 337 (2.1) | 11.1 |
| VD (%) | 349 (0.4) | 154 (1.0) | 7.5 |
| MCI (%) | 1414 (1.5) | 401 (2.6) | 7.5 |
| PD (%) | 625 (0.7) | 135 (0.8) | 2 |
| Hypertension (%) | 68 050 (70.8) | 11 601 (70.5) | 0.6 |
| COPD (%) | 5483 (5.7) | 1194 (7.3) | 6.3 |
| Chronic kidney disease (%) | 4655 (4.8) | 2740 (16.7) | 38.9 |
| Stroke/TIA (%) | 2147 (2.2) | 562 (3.4) | 7.1 |
| Heart attack (%) | 954 (1.0) | 224 (1.4) | 3.4 |
| Angina (%) | 11 081 (11.5) | 1898 (11.5) | 0 |
| Heart failure (%) | 2494 (2.6) | 1126 (6.8) | 20.1 |
| Atrial fibrillation (%) | 9636 (10.0) | 2256 (13.7) | 11.4 |
| Coronary artery disease (%) | 1844 (1.9) | 535 (3.3) | 8.4 |
| Substance abuse (%) | 1131 (1.2) | 176 (1.1) | 1 |
| Hyperlipidemia (%) | 69 957 (72.8) | 11 026 (67.0) | 12.5 |
| Head injury (%) | 537 (0.6) | 114 (0.7) | 1.7 |
| Arthritis (%) | 18 726 (19.5) | 3057 (18.6) | 2.3 |
| Major psychiatric disorders (%) | 11 372 (11.8) | 1423 (8.6) | 10.5 |
| Peripheral arterial disease (%) | 3287 (3.4) | 998 (6.1) | 12.5 |
| Eye disease (%) | 3598 (3.7) | 711 (4.3) | 2.9 |
| Cancer (%) | 4275 (4.4) | 981 (6.0) | 6.8 |
| Ace inhibitors (%) | 38 748 (40.3) | 7426 (45.1) | 9.8 |
| Diuretics (%) | 25 846 (26.9) | 3930 (23.9) | 6.9 |
| Beta-2 agonists (%) | 35 593 (37.0) | 5530 (33.6) | 7.1 |
| Angiotensin II receptor blockers (%) | 21 623 (22.5) | 3482 (21.2) | 3.2 |
| Glucocorticoids (%) | 49 438 (51.4) | 8533 (51.9) | 0.9 |
| NSAIDs (%) | 32 424 (33.7) | 4332 (26.3) | 16.2 |
CKD group defined using eGFR and/or diagnosis code.
AD, Alzheimer’s disease; BMI, body mass index; CKD, chronic kidney disease; COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; eGFR, estimated glomerular filtration rate by measured laboratory value using Mayo Clinic Quadratic; HbAlc, hemoglobin A1c; MCI, mild cognitive impairment; NSAID, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug; PD, Parkinson's disease; SMD (%), standardized mean difference (values >10% indicate significant imbalance between groups); TIA, transient ischemic attack; VD, vascular dementia.