Distribution and characteristics of newly-defined subgroups of type 2 diabetes in randomised clinical trials: Post hoc cluster assignment analysis of over 12,000 study participants

•Distribution of newly-defined diabetes subgroups in randomised clinical trials (RCTs) is unknown.•Mild obesity-related diabetes (MOD) was the predominant subgroup in a set of both pooled and single T2DM RCTs.•Severe insulin-deficient diabetes (SIRD) subgroup was least prevalent in RCTs.•Diabetes duration is a strong modifying factor of subgroup distribution and characteristics.•Subgroup-based randomisation in future RCTs may better define the target T2DM population by avoiding clinical heterogeneity.