Introduction Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) frequently associates with increasing multi-morbidity/treatment complexity. Some headway has been made to identify genetic and non-genetic risk factors for T2DM. However longitudinal clinical histories of individuals both before and after diagnosis of T2DM are likely to provide additional insight into both diabetes aetiology/further complex trajectory of multi-morbidity. Methods This study utilised diabetes patients/controls enrolled in the DARE (Diabetes Alliance for Research in England) study where pre- and post-T2DM diagnosis longitudinal data was available for trajectory analysis. Longitudinal data of 281 individuals (T2DM n=237 vs matched non-T2DM controls n=44) were extracted, checked for errors and logical inconsistencies and then subjected to Trajectory Analysis over a period of up to 70 years based on calculations of the proportions of most prominent clinical conditions for each year. Results For individuals who eventually had a diagnosis of T2DM made, a number of clinical phenotypes were seen to increase consistently in the years leading up to diagnosis of T2DM. Of these documented phenotypes, the most striking were diagnosed hypertension (more than in the control group) and asthma. This trajectory over time was much less dramatic in the matched control group. Immediately prior to T2DM diagnosis a greater indication of ischaemic heart disease proportions was observed. Post-T2DM diagnosis, the proportions of T2DM patients exhibiting hypertension and infection continued to climb rapidly before plateauing. Ischaemic heart disease continued to increase in this group as well as retinopathy, impaired renal function and heart failure. Conclusion These observations provide an intriguing and novel insight into the onset and natural progression of T2DM. They suggest an early phase of potentially-related disease activity well before any clinical diagnosis of diabetes is made. Further studies on a larger cohort of DARE patients are underway to explore the utility of establishing predictive risk scores.

Introduction Erectile Dysfunction (ED) is common in older age and in diabetes (DM). Phosphodiesterase type 5-inhibitors (PDE5-is) are the first-line for ED. We investigated how type of diabetes and age of males affects the PDE5-i use in the primary care setting. Methods 2018-19 general practice level quantity of all PDE5-i agents were taken from the GP Prescribing Data set in England. The variation in outcomes across practices was examined across one year, and for the same practice against the previous year. Results We included 5,761 larger practices supporting 25.8million men of whom 4.2million≥65 years old. Of these, 1.4million had T2DM, with 0.8million of these>65. 137,000 people had T1DM. 28.8million tablets of PDE5-i were prescribed within the 12 months (2018-19) period in 3.7million prescriptions (7.7 tablets/prescription), at total costs of £15.8million (£0.55/tablet). The NHS ED limit of 1 tablet/user/week suggests that 540,000 males are being prescribed a PDE5-i at a cost of £29/year each. With approximately 30,000 GPs practising, this is equivalent to one GP providing 2.5 prescriptions/week to overall 18 males. There was a 3x variation between the highest decile of practices (2.6 tablets/male/year) and lowest decile (0.96 tablets/male/year). The statistical model captured 14% of this variation and showed T1DM males were the largest users, while men age<65 with T2DM were being prescribed 4 times as much as non-DM. Those T2DM>65 were prescribed 80% of the non-DM amount. Conclusion There is wide variation in use of PDE5-is. With only 14% variance capture, other factors including wide variation in patient awareness, prescribing rules of local health providers, and recognition of the importance of male sexual health by GP prescribers might have significant impact.