Patients will be classified into mutually exclusive two treatment groups based on therapy received. Pioglitazone monotherapy was compared to sulfonylurea monotherapy and metformin monotherapy, respectively, on specific parameters. Patients in the latter groups (sulfonylurea or metformin as the case may be) will be matched for each comparison (on a 1 : 1 basis) to patients in their respective pioglitazone group based on the estimated propensity score for pioglitazone therapy (a difference of ±0.01), which served as a proxy for the severity and/or progression of disease. The propensity scores represent a given patient's probability of receiving a given treatment option and were calculated by summing coefficient values for a list of potential
