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

RankDrug nameNumber of 2021 prescriptionsExplore dataset
1Levothyroxine sodium2,462,918Explore
2Metformin hydrochloride1,121,321Explore
3Synthroid966,128Explore
4Trulicity590,135Explore
5NovoLog575,514Explore
6Humalog549,544Explore
7Atorvastatin calcium545,759Explore
8Lantus solostar515,177Explore
9Ozempic512,450Explore
10Jardiance461,963Explore
11Methimazole388,811Explore
12Euthyrox387,876Explore
13Tresiba295,069Explore
14Glimepiride294,753Explore
15Metformin270,580Explore
16Lisinopril268,259Explore
17Rosuvastatin calcium255,334Explore
18BASAGLAR247,013Explore
19Glipizide246,094Explore
20Liothyronine sodium245,347Explore

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

Healthcare Insights are developed with healthcare commercial intelligence from the Definitive Healthcare platform. Want even more insights? Start a free trial now and get access to the latest healthcare commercial intelligence on hospitals, physicians and other healthcare providers.

Explore our data