Background: Type 2 diabetes (T2D) represents a major public health burden in the United States, with racial disparities in medication use potentially exacerbating inequities in health outcomes. This study examined racial/ethnic differences in the prescription of high-efficacy glucose-lowering medications for T2D using a large EHR network (TriNetX). Methods: A retrospective cohort study included adults with uncomplicated T2D (ICD-10: E11.9), categorized as Hispanic or Latino (Hispanic) or non-Hispanic American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN), Asian, Black, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander (NH/PI), and White. Adjusted odds ratios for GLP-1 receptor agonist medications (tirzepatide, semaglutide, and dulaglutide) prescriptions in 2022-2023 were calculated by race/ethnicity, controlling for age, sex, and Charlson Comorbidity Index. Findings: Among 57,320 patients included in the analysis, we observed significant racial disparities in the prescribing of GLP-1 medications. Compared to White patients, for tirzepatide, adjusted odds ratios prescriptions were 0.6 (95% CI: 0.4-0.9) for AI/AN, 0.3 (95% CI: 0.3-0.4) for Asian, 0.7 (95% CI: 0.6-0.9) for Black, 0.4 (95% CI: 0.3-0.5) for Hispanic, and 0.4 (95% CI: 0.3-0.6) for NH/PI. For semaglutide, adjusted odds ratios were 0.8 (95% CI: 0.7-0.9) for AI/AN, 0.5 (95% CI: 0.5-0.6) for Asian, 0.8 (95% CI: 0.7-0.9) for Black, 0.6 (95% CI: 0.6-0.7) for Hispanic, and 0.6 (95% CI: 0.5-0.8) for NH/PI. For dulaglutide, adjusted odds ratios were 1.2 (95% CI: 1.0-1.4) for AI/AN, 0.5 (95% CI: 0.4-0.5) for Asian, 1.0 (95% CI: 0.9-1.1) for Black, 0.9 (95% CI: 0.8-1.0) for Hispanic, and 0.5 (95% CI: 0.4-0.6) for NH/PI. Interpretation: Racial disparities in high-efficacy diabetes medication prescriptions may contribute to unequal health outcomes in T2D, highlighting the need for targeted research and interventions for equitable diabetes care.

Outside of the submitted work during the 36 months prior to publication, KK reports honoraria, consulting, sponsored research, writing assistance, licensing, or co-development in the past three years with Hitachi, Pfizer, RTI International, the University of California at San Francisco, Indiana University, the Regenstrief Foundation, the Korean Society of Medical Informatics, the University of Nebraska, NORC at the University of Chicago, the University of Pennsylvania, Yale University, Elsevier, MD Aware, Custom Clinical Decision Support, and the U.S. Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (via Security Risk Solutions) in the area of health information technology. KK was also an unpaid board member of the non-profit Health Level Seven International health IT standard development organization, he is an unpaid member of the U.S. Health Information Technology Advisory Committee, and he has helped develop a number of health IT tools which may be commercialized to enable wider impact. None of these relationships have direct relevance to the manuscript but are reported in the interest of full disclosure. Outside of the submitted, RH serves on a Data Safety Monitoring Board for Astellas Pharmaceuticals. Other authors have no conflict of interest to report.

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. JCF and RG were partially funded by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number UM1TR004409. MJO was partially funded by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases under Award Number P30DK092949

I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained.

Yes

The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below:

University of Utah IRB

I confirm that all necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived, and that any patient/participant/sample identifiers included were not known to anyone (e.g., hospital staff, patients or participants themselves) outside the research group so cannot be used to identify individuals.

Yes

I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance).

Yes

I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines, such as any relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material, if applicable.

Yes

The data underlying this article cannot be shared publicly due to TriNetX policies.