Long-term comparative safety analysis of the risks associated with adding or switching to a sulfonylurea as second-line Type 2 diabetes mellitus treatment in a US veteran population.

The results of the present study may inform decisions on whether to augment or discontinue metformin; when considering the long-term risks, switching to a sulfonylurea appears unfavourable compared with other therapies. Instead, adding a thiazolidinedione to existing metformin therapy appears to be superior to adding or switching to a sulfonylurea.