A sneak peak of the 2015 report on the market of type 2 diabetes mellitus diagnosis and treatment in China

To understand the status quo of the diagnosis and treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in China. A total of 1,759 respondents from 31 provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions participated this online questionnaire-based survey from November to December in 2014 via the DXY.cn survey & research platform. All the respondents had certain experiences in T2DM management. Up to 83% of the T2DM patients were re-visiting patients, in whom hyperlipidemia, hypertension, and neuropathy were the most common co-morbidities or complications. Fasting blood glucose, postprandial blood glucose, glycosylated hemoglobin were the most commonly used tests, while oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) had also became one of the most common tests for new patients. Oral hypoglycemic agents remain the most widely used hypoglycemic treatment, with metformin, sulfonylureas, and glycosidase inhibitors being the top three oral antidiabetic drugs. Less than half (43%) of the T2DM patients were receiving insulin treatment, among which the premixed insulin was the most common type, followed by short-acting insulin, long-acting insulin, and medium-acting insulin. A certain percentage of patients were also using novel antidiabetic drugs including DPP-IV and GLP-1. Foreign pharmaceutical companies had the largest shares in most markets. However, domestic generic medicine had larger market shares in smaller cities (third- and lower-tier cities) than in major cities (first- and second-tier cities).