Cardiovascular drug use prior to diagnosis of diabetes: a pilot study in community pharmacy.

Objectives: The literature indicates that cardiovascular drug use is higher during the years prior to diagnosis of type 2 diabetes mellitus. As there are pharmaco-epidemiological and economic consequences of enhanced medication use prior to diagnosis of diabetes, there is a need for a comparative analysis of the drug-use pattern by patients with a subsequent diagnosis of diabetes and control patients. This pilot study aimed to investigate cardiovascular drug use in patients with a subsequent diagnosis of diabetes using data extracted from 200 community pharmacies in the Belgian township of Hasselt.