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Road traffic accident risk in patients with diabetes mellitus receiving blood glucose‐lowering drugs. Prospective follow‐up study
Author(s) -
Skurtveit S.,
Strøm H.,
Skrivarhaug T.,
Mørland J.,
Bramness J. G.,
Engeland A.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
diabetic medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.474
H-Index - 145
eISSN - 1464-5491
pISSN - 0742-3071
DOI - 10.1111/j.1464-5491.2009.02699.x
Subject(s) - medicine , insulin , diabetes mellitus , incidence (geometry) , population , medical prescription , relative risk , emergency medicine , confidence interval , environmental health , endocrinology , pharmacology , physics , optics
Aim To investigate, at a national level, whether patients using insulin or oral glucose‐lowering agents had an increased risk of road traffic accidents compared with non‐users. Methods All Norwegians aged 18–69 years (3.1 million) were followed from April 2004 until September 2006. Information on drug prescriptions, road traffic accidents and emigration/death was obtained from the following population‐based registries: the Prescription Database, the Road Accident Registry and the Central Population Registry. The exposure period was the time from the first prescription of insulin or oral glucose‐lowering agent during the study period. The incidence of accidents in the exposed person‐time was compared with the incidence of accidents in the unexposed person‐time by standardized incidence ratio (SIR). Results During the study period, 20 494 road traffic accidents with personal injuries were registered in Norway. One hundred and eighty‐three accidents were registered for insulin users not taking oral glucose‐lowering agents and 219 for users of oral blood glucose‐lowering drugs without insulin. The SIR (95% confidence interval) for all ages and both genders combined were: insulin 1.4 (1.2–1.6), oral glucose‐lowering agents 1.2 (1.0–1.3) and users of drugs for peptic ulcer and gastro‐oesophageal reflux disease (negative comparators) 1.3 (1.2–1.4). The highest SIRs were found among the youngest insulin users (18–34 years old). Conclusions A slightly increased risk of being involved in a road traffic accident was observed for drivers prescribed insulin, while no increased risk was observed for drivers prescribed oral glucose‐lowering agents. The increased risk observed for insulin users was similar to that observed for users of drugs for peptic ulcer and gastro‐oesophageal reflux disease.