Diabetes: simple patient characteristics should help inform choice of second line drug, study finds

GPs should consider a patient’s sex and body mass index when deciding which diabetes drug to prescribe as second line treatment, a large UK study has suggested.1 For example, obese women are more likely to have good blood glucose control with thiazolidinediones than with sulfonylureas, while the reverse is true in non-obese men.

This simple form of personalised medicine, which does not need expensive technology to implement, could reduce the risk of potentially harmful side effects …