Observational studyBMJ (Clinical research ed.)2022
Emulating the GRADE trial using real world data: retrospective comparative effectiveness study.
Observational study in BMJ (Clinical research ed.), 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
23 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 23 citations in OpenAlex.
- Concordance between target trial emulation and randomised controlled trials: systematic review and meta-analysis.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2026Pooled it
- Methodological challenges using routine clinical care data for real-world evidence: a rapid review utilizing a systematic literature search and focus group discussion.BMC medical research methodology · 2025Pooled it
- Effects of newer-generation anti-diabetics on diabetic retinopathy: a critical review.Graefe's archive for clinical and experimental ophthalmology = Albrecht von Graefes Archiv fur klinische und experimentelle Ophthalmologie · 2024Pooled it
- Reporting of Observational Studies Explicitly Aiming to Emulate Randomized Trials: A Systematic Review.JAMA network open · 2023Pooled it
- Using real-world data to predict findings of an ongoing phase IV trial: glycemic control of semaglutide versus standard of care.BMJ open diabetes research & care · 2025Trial
- Exploring the association between antidepressants, progression and mortality in Huntington's disease.Brain : a journal of neurology · 2026Article
- An interpretable machine learning model for diabetic foot risk classification in patients with diabetes.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- PERsonalised Medicine for Intensification of Treatment (PERMIT) in type 2 diabetes mellitus: a target trial emulation from routine data.Health technology assessment (Winchester, England) · 2026Article
- Emulating Six Cardiovascular Outcome Trials of Antidiabetic Drugs in Individuals with Type 2 Diabetes: Analyses Based on Real-World Databases from Korea and Taiwan.Clinical pharmacology and therapeutics · 2026Article
- Design and Implementation of Observational Studies Emulating a Target Trial.JAMA network open · 2026Article
- Comparative Effectiveness of Current Glucose-lowering Medications in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: Emulation of a Modified GRADE Trial.Journal of general internal medicine · 2026Article
- Glucose-lowering effects of physical activity in type 1 diabetes: A causal modelling and matched-pair analysis approach.Diabetic medicine : a journal of the British Diabetic Association · 2025Article
- Assessing the replicability of RCTs in RWE emulations.BMC medical research methodology · 2025Article
- Risk of Severe Hypoglycemia After Initiation of Noninsulin Glucose-Lowering Therapies in Adults With Type 2 Diabetes at Moderate Cardiovascular Disease Risk.Clinical diabetes : a publication of the American Diabetes Association · 2025Article
- Feasibility of using real-world data to emulate substance use disorder clinical trials: a cross-sectional study.BMC medical research methodology · 2024Article
- Comparative effectiveness of second line oral antidiabetic treatments among people with type 2 diabetes mellitus: emulation of a target trial using routinely collected health data.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2024Article
- Acute pharmacodynamic responses to sitagliptin: Drug-induced increase in early insulin secretion in oral glucose tolerance test.Clinical and translational science · 2024Article
- Beyond glycemia: Comparing tirzepatide to GLP-1 analogues.Reviews in endocrine & metabolic disorders · 2023Review
- Assessing the use of observational methods and real-world data to emulate ongoing randomized controlled trials.Clinical trials (London, England) · 2023Article
- Second-Line Pharmaceutical Treatments for Patients with Type 2 Diabetes.JAMA network open · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
14 authors at 10 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveTo emulate the GRADE (Glycemia Reduction Approaches in Diabetes: A Comparative Effectiveness Study) trial using real world data before its publication. GRADE directly compared second line glucose lowering drugs for their ability to lower glycated hemoglobin A
designObservational study.
settingOptumLabs® Data Warehouse (OLDW), a nationwide claims database in the US, 25 January 2010 to 30 June 2019.
participantsAdults with type 2 diabetes and HbA
main outcome measuresThe primary outcome was time to HbA
results8252 people were identified (19.7% of adults starting the study drugs in OLDW) who met eligibility criteria for the GRADE trial (glimepiride arm=4318, liraglutide arm=690, sitagliptin arm=2993, glargine arm=251). The glargine arm was excluded from analyses owing to small sample size. Median times to HbA
conclusionsIn this emulation of the GRADE trial, liraglutide was statistically significantly more effective at maintaining glycemic control than glimepiride or sitagliptin when added to metformin monotherapy. Generating timely evidence on medical treatments using real world data as a complement to prospective trials is of value.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.