Healthcare Insights
Top prescriptions by endocrinologists
More than 37 million Americans are estimated to have diabetes and nearly 1.5 million new cases are diagnosed each year. While this chronic condition is often managed through diet, activity and insulin measurement, endocrinologists play an important role in treating patients with diabetes.
What medications do endocrinologists most often prescribe?
For this analysis, we reviewed data from the Definitive Healthcare ClaimsRx product for prescriptions written by providers with an endocrinology specialty. This analysis includes more than 9,300 providers from the PhysicianView product that wrote more than 20 million prescriptions in 2021.
The table below shows the medications most prescribed by endocrinologists.
Top 20 prescriptions written by endocrinology specialists
| Rank | Drug name | Number of 2021 prescriptions | Explore dataset |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Levothyroxine sodium | 2,462,918 | Explore |
| 2 | Metformin hydrochloride | 1,121,321 | Explore |
| 3 | Synthroid | 966,128 | Explore |
| 4 | Trulicity | 590,135 | Explore |
| 5 | NovoLog | 575,514 | Explore |
| 6 | Humalog | 549,544 | Explore |
| 7 | Atorvastatin calcium | 545,759 | Explore |
| 8 | Lantus solostar | 515,177 | Explore |
| 9 | Ozempic | 512,450 | Explore |
| 10 | Jardiance | 461,963 | Explore |
| 11 | Methimazole | 388,811 | Explore |
| 12 | Euthyrox | 387,876 | Explore |
| 13 | Tresiba | 295,069 | Explore |
| 14 | Glimepiride | 294,753 | Explore |
| 15 | Metformin | 270,580 | Explore |
| 16 | Lisinopril | 268,259 | Explore |
| 17 | Rosuvastatin calcium | 255,334 | Explore |
| 18 | BASAGLAR | 247,013 | Explore |
| 19 | Glipizide | 246,094 | Explore |
| 20 | Liothyronine sodium | 245,347 | Explore |
Fig. 1 Data from the Definitive Healthcare ClaimsRx product. Claims data is sourced from multiple medical claims clearinghouses in the United States and updated monthly. Data accurate as of May 2022.
With nearly 2.5 million prescriptions, levothyroxine sodium is the medication most prescribed by endocrinologists. This drug is used for hypothyroidism treatment, which is often a co-morbidity to diabetes. Metformin hydrochloride, used for diabetes treatment and management, is the next most prescribed medication with more than 1.1 million prescriptions made by endocrinologists in 2021.
What are the most common diseases endocrinologists treat?
Endocrinologists specialize in the regulation of hormones and treatment of glands such as the thyroid and pancreas. Conditions they treat revolve around growth, weight, blood sugar management and reproductive issues.
Endocrinologists treat several conditions and diseases, including:
- Cholesterol problems
- Diabetes
- Growth hormone deficiency
- Hypertension
- Infertility
- Obesity
- Osteoporosis
- Thyroid disorders
Learn more
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