OBJECTIVES: To describe the changing patterns in the use of the various classes of antidiabetic drugs in a cohort of patients newly treated for diabetes from 2008 to 2015, particularly those people in whom antidiabetic drugs are no longer dispensed 8 years after starting treatment.

METHODS: General scheme beneficiaries 45 years and older were identified in the French National Health Data System (SNDS) as newly treated when antidiabetic drugs were dispensed on at least 3 different dates in 2008 and at least once during the last 4 months of 2008, but were dispensed less than 3 times in 2006-2007.

RESULTS: No antidiabetic drugs were dispensed between September and December 2015 in 19,620 people with incident diabetes in 2008, who were still alive at the time of analysis. The population of diabetic patients no longer receiving antidiabetic drugs at the end of 2015 comprised a larger proportion of people with cardiovascular/neurovascular disease, cancer...

CONCLUSIONS: Antidiabetic drugs were no longer dispensed at the end of 2015, i.e. 8 years after the initiation of antidiabetic treatment, in 12% of the cohort. However, these people continued to be followed for diabetes and some of them continued to take treatments for cardiovascular risk factors. As this population presents a slightly severe comorbidity profile than the population that continues to take antidiabetic treatment, the drug management of these patients may need to be reviewed.