Clinical practice effect of rosiglitazone discontinuation on glycemic control

Despite long-term clinical studies showing no increase in ischemic cardiovascular events associated with rosiglitazone compared with other oral agents, the hypothesis generated by a widely publicized meta-analysis in May 2007, suggesting an association between thiazolidinediones (TZD) and risk of ischemic cardiovascular events, has left some clinicians uncertain about the use of TZDs in the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of rosiglitazone discontinuation after May 2007 on prescribing patterns and glycemic control in a clinical setting in patients with type 2 diabetes. In patients who received combination therapy, and who had laboratory values available in both the prediscontinuation and the postdiscontinuation periods, significant increases were observed in both fasting plasma glucose and HbA^sub 1c^. In the small number of patients who received rosiglitazone monotherapy before discontinuation, and who also had both prediscontinuation and postdiscontinuation laboratory values available, no significant changes were observed in fasting plasma glucose or HbA^sub 1c^.