Table 3 A summary of target trial to estimate the change in HbA1c^a among type II diabetes patients

Follow-up period

Study follow-up starts on January 01, 2018 and terminated on September 30, 2021. Patient follow-up defined with eligibility and censoring criteria.

Exclusion criteria

Exclude patients with three year look-back window for SGLT-2i^b and DPP-4i^c prescriptions with respect to the start of the study period (January 01 2018).

Eligibility criteria

At least 18 years old patients with diabetes and elevated HbA1c \((\ge 8.5 \%)\).

Censoring criteria

Administratively censored on September 30, 2021 or mid-calendar year (June 30) when deceased year is recorded.

Treatment strategy

SGLT-2i medication v.s. standard care (i.e. without SGLT-2i prescriptions), and DPP-4i medication v.s. standard care (i.e. without DPP-4i prescriptions).

Assignment procedures

Participants randomly assigned to either treatment strategy.

Outcome

Repeat-measures HbA1c (in %).

Causal contrast of interest

Cumulative SGLT-2i prescriptions v.s. standard care.

Cumulative DPP-4i prescriptions v.s. standard care.

Analysis plan

Intention-to-treat analysis.