New Antibiotics Study Results Reported from Tehran University of Medical Sciences [Antibiotic consumption and medication cost in diabetic patients: Insights from Iran health insurance organization (IHIO) claims data]: Drugs and Therapies – Antibiotics

2026 MAR 05 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- Current study results on Drugs and Therapies - Antibiotics have been published. According to news reporting originating in Tehran, Iran, by NewsRx journalists, research stated, “The rising prevalence of diabetes is increasing the healthcare costs especially when associated with infection. We aimed to assess the antibiotic consumption and medication costs in diabetes.”

Financial support for this research came from Tehran University of Medical Sciences and Health Services.

The news reporters obtained a quote from the research from the Tehran University of Medical Sciences, “We performed a retrospective claims-based study using Iranian Health Insurance Organization (IHIO) dataset from 24 provinces during 2014-2017. Systemic antibacterials were quantified in defined daily doses and diabetic patients were stratified into ‘No antibiotic’ (NAb) and quartiles of cumulative antibiotic exposure (Q1-Q4). A dominant antidiabetic regimen was assigned when 80% of a patient’s diabetes prescriptions came from one drug class or combination. Inflation-adjusted annual medication costs were modelled with log-link Gamma generalized linear models. The study comprised 1,704,182 individuals (62.0% women). Biguanides alone were most common dominant diabetes regimen (40%), whereas penicillin accounted for 35.8% of all antibiotic dispensing. Mean annual medication costs were 93 USD for women and 138 USD for men; however, after adjustment men incurred slightly lower costs than women. Compared with the NAb group, costs rose progressively with antibiotic exposure, reaching an adjusted mean ratio (MR) 3.17 (95%CI 3.09-3.25) in Q4. Relative to biguanide monotherapy, costs were markedly higher for regimens biguanides + insulins (MR 5.75, 5.54-5.97) or insulins alone (MR 5.53, 5.38-5.68). Quantifying the joint impact of antidiabetic regimens and antibiotic use on treatment costs highlights key factors driving healthcare expenditures.”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “These findings can inform targeted antibiotic stewardship strategies and guide reimbursement policy to optimize resource allocation and reduce the financial burden on both patients and insurers.”

For more information on this research see: Antibiotic consumption and medication cost in diabetic patients: Insights from Iran health insurance organization (IHIO) claims data. PLOS One, 2026;21(2). PLOS One can be contacted at: Public Library Science, 1160 Battery Street, Ste 100, San Francisco, CA 94111, USA. (Public Library of Science - www.plos.org; PLOS One - www.plosone.org)

Our news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Benyamin Khoshparast, Non-Communicable Diseases Research Center, Endocrinology and Metabolism Population Sciences Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Additional authors for this research include Arash Bagherian Ghotbi, Hamidreza Hekmat, Zahra Shahali, Ali Golestani and Ozra Tabatabaei-Malazy.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0343090. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

The publisher of the journal PLOS One can be contacted at: Public Library Science, 1160 Battery Street, Ste 100, San Francisco, CA 94111, USA.

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