Patients with diabetes (DM) and end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) on dialysis have a high risk of severe hypoglycemia and more than 70% are treated with insulin therapy. While not all hypoglycemic events can be prevented, glucagon is recommended for patients at high risk for hypoglycemia to revert and prevent hospitalization with severe hypoglycemic events. Prior studies have shown low rates of glucagon utilization, but excluded patients with ESKD who are at highest risk for these events. We used the USRDS, the most comprehensive nationwide database of patients with ESKD in the US, to examine the quarterly rates of glucagon fills among U.S. adults with DM and ESKD receiving dialysis. Among 254,195 adults (≥18 years) with ESKD and type 1 DM (N=27,538) or type 2 DM (N=226,657), with 76.9% using insulin therapy, between 2013-2017. Fewer than 2% of patients with type 2 DM and fewer than 4% of patients with type 1 DM filled a glucagon prescription, with declining fill rates over time among patients with type 2 DM and stable rates among patients with type 1 DM. Clinical Characteristics and trends in glucagon prescriptions are shown in Table 1. Our findings suggest an urgent and critical need for education of clinicians, patients, and caregivers to improve the prescribing and use of glucagon: a life-saving rescue medication.
R.J.Galindo: Consultant; Novo Nordisk, Eli Lilly and Company, Sanofi, Pfizer Inc., Bayer Inc., WW (Weight Watchers), Research Support; Novo Nordisk, Eli Lilly and Company, Dexcom, Inc. S.Inselman: None. B.Moazzami: None. M.K.Ali: Advisory Panel; Bayer Inc., Eli Lilly and Company, Research Support; Merck & Co., Inc. G.Umpierrez: Research Support; Abbott, Dexcom, Inc., Baxter. R.G.Mccoy: Consultant; Emmi.
