Physician perceptions of GLP-1 receptor agonists in the UK

Objectives Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists have been used to treat type 2 diabetes for almost a decade, and new treatments in this class have recently been introduced. The purpose of this study was to examine perceptions of GLP-1 receptor agonists among physicians who treat patients with type 2 diabetes in the UK.

Methods A total of 670 physicians (226 diabetes specialists; 444 general practice [GP] physicians) completed a survey in 2014.

Results Almost all physicians had prescribed GLP-1 receptor agonists (95.4% total sample; 99.1% specialists; 93.5% GP), most frequently to patients whose glucose levels are not adequately controlled with oral medications (85.9% of physicians) and obese/overweight patients (83.7%). Physicians’ most common reasons for prescribing a GLP-1 receptor agonist were: associated with weight loss (65.8%), good efficacy (55.7%), less hypoglycemia risk than insulin (55.2%), not associated with weight gain (34.5%), and better efficacy than oral medications (32.7%). Factors that most commonly cause hesitation when prescribing this class were: not considered first line therapy according to guidelines (56.9%), injectable administration (44.6%), cost (36.7%), gastrointestinal side effects (33.4%), and risk of pancreatitis (26.7%). Almost all specialists (99.1%) believed they had sufficient knowledge to prescribe a GLP-1 receptor agonist, compared with 76.1% of GPs.

Conclusions Results highlight the widespread use of GLP-1 receptor agonists for treatment of type 2 diabetes in the UK. However, almost a quarter of GPs reported that they do not have enough knowledge to prescribe GLP-1s, suggesting a need for increased dissemination of information to targeted groups of physicians. Study limitations were that the generalizability of the clinician sample is unknown; survey questions required clinicians to select answers from multiple response options rather than generating the responses themselves; and responses to this survey conducted in 2014 do not reflect perceptions of the most recently introduced GLP-1 receptor agonists.