Evaluating Empagliflozin’s Impact on Cardiovascular Outcomes in Patients with T2D | AHA 2024
Two posted presented at the American Heart Association’s 2024 Scientific Sessions explored empagliflozin among patients with type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular risk.
The sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 (SGLT-2) inhibitor empagliflozin could help improve clinical outcomes in patients who have type 2 diabetes (T2D) and cardiovascular disease, according to research data presented at the American Heart Association’s 2024 Scientific Sessions, held November 16 to 18 in Chicago, Illinois.1
Evaluating Empagliflozin’s Impact on Cardiovascular Outcomes in Patients with T2D | AHA 2024 / Semi - stock.adobe.com
Previous research has found empagliflozin can reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and death from any cause in patients with T2D.2 Because patients with T2D and concurrent cardiovascular disease have historically been managed through several different types of interventions, empagliflozin represents a possible way to simplify treatment.
READ MORE: Assessing SGLT-2 Inhibitors in Patients with T2D, Cardiovascular Complications | AHA 2024
Investigators from AdventHealth, Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Medical College and Dow University of Health Sciences conducted a meta-analysis to compare empagliflozin with placebo in patients with T2D and concomitant cardiovascular disease. For the study, investigators performed a literature search of PubMed, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Library up to May 2024.
The meta-analysis included 16 studies that met the inclusion criteria. Investigators found that empagliflozin significantly reduced HbA1c and cardiac mortality when compared to placebo. The medication was associated with a significantly greater reduction in systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure. But empagliflozin was also associated with a significantly greater risk of genital infections.
However, according to another poster presented at the meeting, empagliflozin was not as effective at reducing cardiovascular mortality and major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) compared to dapagliflozin.3 Dapagliflozin is another SGLT-2 inhibitor with similar effects as empagliflozin. While both have showed benefits for cardiovascular outcomes, there is a lack of data on their comparative benefits.
For the study, a team of investigators from Pakistan, India and the United Kingdom conducted a meta-analysis in an effort to compare cardiovascular outcomes between dapagliflozin and empagliflozin in patients with T2D. Data for the study was gathered from several electronic databases, including PubMed, Embase, and Google Scholar up to May 2024.
In total, 6 studies comprised of 172293 patients were included in the meta-analysis. The primary outcomes for the study were MACE, cardiovascular mortality, and all-cause death. Secondary outcomes that were extracted included stroke, myocardial infarction, and heart failure.
The study found that there was a significant association between the use of empagliflozin and dapagliflozin for reducing cardiovascular mortality and MACE. A sensitivity analysis also showed a statistically significant result for heart failure. However, no statistically significant difference was observed between the 2 drugs for reducing stroke, all-cause death or myocardial infarction.
“The use of dapagliflozin significantly reduces cardiovascular mortality and MACE when compared with empagliflozin,” the authors concluded. “Our results should be considered hypothesis generating and evidence from large-scale multi-centric randomized controlled trials (RCTs) is required to reach a definitive conclusion.”
READ MORE: Diabetes Resource Center
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