Cassidi Crosby McDaniel
Unpacking the Complexity of Diabetes Care Through Investigating Disease Control and Therapeutic Inertia Among Patients with Type 2 Diabetes
Summary
Diabetes management is complicated and changes over time. Approximately half of the people living with diabetes do not meet A1C targets for optimal glycemic control, leaving them at higher risk for diabetes-related complications. Optimal glycemic control involves routine assessments of patients’ antihyperglycemic treatment regimens and intensification or initiation of additional antihyperglycemic medications as appropriate when A1C targets are not achieved. If there is a lack of antihyperglycemic medication intensification or initiation as appropriately indicated by guidelines, therapeutic inertia occurs. Investigation of glycemic control and therapeutic inertia in patients with type 2 diabetes will shed light on diabetes management. This dissertation seeks to understand factors influencing glycemic control, to predict therapeutic inertia occurrence in clinical practice, and to examine the subsequent health outcomes after exposure to therapeutic inertia. This dissertation will be completed using real-world data to expand the evidence base for glycemic control and therapeutic inertia in people with type 2 diabetes. The public health significance of the dissertation is to optimize patients’ diabetes care and management across their lifetimes and mitigate the occurrence of subsequent diabetes-related complications.
Receiving the PhRMA Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship has allowed me to focus my time on successfully conducting my dissertation project and continually developing the skills needed for a career in health outcomes research.
