The study estimated how often type 2 diabetes remission is recorded in routine care and how long it lasts. It used 136,781 adults with laboratory-confirmed type 2 diabetes in linked electronic health record and claims data. Remission needed two HbA1c values below 6.5%, 90-365 days apart, at least 3 months after stopping all glucose-lowering drugs. Five-year cumulative incidence was 3.82% in 96,817 previously treated adults and 13.27% in 39,964 untreated at entry. Median first remission lasted 226 days; within five years 47.83% ended with treatment restart and 31.94% with glycaemic relapse. Remission and its end were defined from recorded HbA1c and prescribing, so restarts may reflect prescribing practice.
Why it is interesting: Remission recorded in routine care is rare and brief. The commonest end point is a prescription restart rather than a rise in HbA1c.
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