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How to use type 2 diabetes meds to lower CV disease risk

The Journal of Family Practice. 2019 November;68(9):494-498,500-504
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The challenge: Translate evidence from cardiovascular outcomes trials of newer antidiabetic agents into a targeted management strategy.

PRACTICE RECOMMENDATIONS

› Consider American Diabetes Association (ADA) guidance and prescribe a sodium–glucose cotransporter-2 (SGLT-2) inhibitor or glucagon-like peptide- 1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist that has demonstrated cardiovascular (CV) disease benefit for your patients who have type 2 diabetes (T2D) and established atherosclerotic CV disease. A

› Consider ADA’s recommendation for preferred therapy and prescribe an SGLT-2 inhibitor for your patients with T2D who have atherosclerotic CV disease and are at high risk of heart failure or in whom heart failure coexists. C

Strength of recommendation (SOR)

A Good-quality patient-oriented evidence
B Inconsistent or limited-quality patient-oriented evidence
C Consensus, usual practice, opinion, disease-oriented evidence, case series

Patients on canagliflozin unexpectedly had an increased incidence of amputations (6.3 participants, compared with 3.4 participants, for every 1000 patient–years). This finding led to a black box warning for canagliflozin about the risk of lower-limb amputation.

DECLARE-TIMI 58. The Dapagliflozin Effect of Cardiovascular Events-Thrombolysis in Myocardial Infarction 58 trial (DECLARETIMI 58) was the largest SGLT-2 inhibitor outcomes trial to date, enrolling 17,160 patients with T2D who also had established CV disease or multiple risk factors for atherosclerotic CV disease. The trial compared dapagliflozin, 10 mg/d, and placebo, following patients for a median 4.2 years.24 Unlike CANVAS and EMPA-REG OUTCOME, DECLARE-TIMI 58 included CV death and HHF as primary outcomes, in addition to MACE-3.

Dapagliflozin was noninferior to placebo with regard to MACE-3. However, its use did result in a lower rate of CV death and HHF by an RRR of 17% (ARR, 1.9%). Risk reduction was greatest in patients with HF who had a reduced ejection fraction (ARR = 9.2%).25

In October, the FDA approved dapagliflozin to reduce the risk of HHF in adults with T2D and established CV disease or multiple CV risk factors. Before initiating the drug, physicians should evaluate the patient's renal function and monitor periodically.

Meta-analyses of SGLT-2 inhibitors

Systematic review. Usman et al released a meta-analysis in 2018 that included 35 randomized, placebo-controlled trials (including EMPA-REG OUTCOME, CANVAS, and DECLARE-TIMI 58) that had assessed the use of SGLT-2 inhibitors in nearly 35,000 patients with T2D.26 This review concluded that, as a class, SGLT-2 inhibitors reduce all-cause mortality, major adverse cardiac events, nonfatal MI, and HF and HHF, compared with placebo.

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