Sodium-Glucose Co-Transporter-2 (SGLT2) Inhibitors: Comparing Trial and Real World Use (Study Protocol)

Cardiovascular protection with sodium-glucose co-transporter-2 inhibitors in type 2 diabetes: Does it apply to all patients?

Patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) are at an increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Cardiovascular risk in these patients should be considered as a continuum, and comprehensive treatment strategies should aim to target multiple disease risk factors. Large-scale clinical trials of sodium-glucose co-transporter-2 (SGLT2) inhibitors have shown an impact on cardiovascular outcomes, including heart failure hospitalization and cardiovascular death, which appears to be independent of their glucose-lowering efficacy. Reductions in major cardiovascular events appear to be greatest in patients with established CVD, particularly those with prior myocardial infarction, but are independent of heart failure or renal risk. Most large-scale trials of SGLT2 inhibitors predominantly include patients with T2D with pre-existing CVD and high cardiovascular risk at baseline, limiting their applicability to patients typically observed in clinical practice. Real-world evidence from observational studies suggests that there might also be beneficial effects of SGLT2 inhibitors on heart failure hospitalization and all-cause mortality in various cohorts of lower risk patients. The most common adverse events reported in clinical and observational studies are genital infections; however, the overall risk of these events appears to be low and easily managed. Similar safety profiles have been reported for elderly and younger patients. There is still some debate regarding the safety of canagliflozin in patients at high risk of fracture and amputation. Outstanding questions include specific patterns of cardiovascular protection according to baseline risk.

Sodium glucose co-transporter 2 inhibitors and cardiovascular event protections: how applicable are clinical trials and observational studies to real-world patients?

OBJECTIVE

This study evaluated the characteristics of new users of sodium glucose co-transporter 2 inhibitors (SGLT2i) in clinical practice to assess the applicability of the findings from clinical trials (Empagliflozin, Cardiovascular Outcomes and Mortality in Type 2 Diabetes (EMPA-REG OUTCOME) trial, Dapagliflozin Effect on Cardiovascular Events (DECLARE)-TIMI 58 trial, Canagliflozin Cardiovascular Assessment Study (CANVAS) program and the Evaluation of Ertugliflozin Efficacy and Safety Cardiovascular Outcomes (VERTIS-CV) trial) and multinational observational studies (CVD-REAL Nordic study and CVD-REAL 2 study).

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS

We conducted a retrospective cohort study using the largest electronic medical records database from seven hospitals in Taiwan. We included adult patients with type 2 diabetes initiating canagliflozin, dapagliflozin and empagliflozin between 1 January 2018 and 31 August 2019. We compared the patient characteristics with SGLT2i to examine the data representativeness of clinical trials and to evaluate channeling uses between canagliflozin, dapagliflozin and empagliflozin.

RESULTS

We identified a cohort of 11 650 patients newly initiating SGLT2i, 49.9% of whom received empagliflozin. However, only 18.7%, 19.2%, 50.4% and 57.3% of real-world SGLT2i new users were included in the EMPA-REG OUTCOME trial, VERTIS-CV trial, DECLARE-TIMI 58 trial and CANVAS program, respectively. Reasons for exclusion were largely reduced cardiovascular disease risks in real-world patients, namely 72.8%, 73.6% and 34.2% for EMPA-REG OUTCOME trial, VERTIS-CV trial and DECLARE-TIMI 58 trial and CANVAS program, respectively. However, hemoglobin A1c out of range accounted for the most frequent reason (25.0%) for exclusion of real-world patients from the CANVAS program. We found channeling uses in different SGLT2i, for example, more patients receiving empagliflozin (15.3%) and canagliflozin (19.6%) had poorer renal functions (eg, estimated glomerular filtration rate <60 mL/min/1.73 m²), compared with dapagliflozin (9.3%).

CONCLUSIONS

The findings provide clear evidence that results from current studies may be less applicable to real-world patients. Further studies are required to support the concept of real-world cardiovascular event protection through SGLT2i.

Incidence and prevalence of cardiovascular disease in English primary care: a cross-sectional and follow-up study of the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) Research and Surveillance Centre (RSC)

OBJECTIVES

To describe incidence and prevalence of cardiovascular disease (CVD), its risk factors, medication prescribed to treat CVD and predictors of CVD within a nationally representative dataset.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional study of adults with and without CVD.

SETTING

The Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) Research and Surveillance Centre (RSC) is an English primary care sentinel network. RCGP RSC is over 50 years old and one of the oldest in Europe. Practices receive feedback about data quality. This database is primarily used to conduct surveillance and research into influenza, infections and vaccine effectiveness but is also a rich resource for the study of non-communicable disease (NCD). The RCGP RSC network comprised 164 practices at the time of study.

RESULTS

Data were extracted from the records of 1 275 174 adults. Approximately a fifth (21.3%; 95% CI 21.2% to 21.4%) had CVD (myocardial infarction (MI), angina, atrial fibrillation (AF), peripheral arterial disease, stroke/transient ischaemic attack (TIA), congestive cardiac failure) or hypertension. Smoking, unsafe alcohol consumption and obesity were more common among people with CVD. Angiotensin system modulating drugs, 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme (HMG-CoA) reductase inhibitors (statins) and calcium channel blockers were the most commonly prescribed CVD medications. Age-adjusted and gender-adjusted annual incidence for AF was 28.2/10 000 (95% CI 27.8 to 28.7); stroke/TIA 17.1/10 000 (95% CI 16.8 to 17.5) and MI 9.8/10 000 (95% CI 9.5 to 10.0). Logistic regression analyses confirmed established CVD risk factors were associated with CVD in the RCGP RSC network dataset.

CONCLUSIONS

The RCGP RSC database provides comprehensive information on risk factors, medical diagnosis, physiological measurements and prescription history that could be used in CVD research or pharmacoepidemiology. With the exception of MI, the prevalence of CVDs was higher than in other national data, possibly reflecting data quality. RCGP RSC is an underused resource for research into NCDs and their management and welcomes collaborative opportunities.

Sodium-Glucose Co-transporter 2 (SGLT2) Inhibitor: Comparing Trial Data and Real-World Use

INTRODUCTION

The first cardiovascular safety trial in the sodium-glucose co-transporter-2 (SGLT2) inhibitor drug class, the Empagliflozin Cardiovascular Outcomes and Mortality in Type 2 Diabetes (EMPA-REG OUTCOME) trial, demonstrated significant cardiovascular risk reduction with empagliflozin. It is currently not clear what proportions of people with type 2 diabetes (T2DM) have the same high cardiovascular risk as those included in the trial, and will therefore be likely to experience the same cardiovascular benefit. We aimed to identify and describe the proportion of people with T2DM from a representative English national population who have the comparable high cardiovascular risk to those included in the EMPA-REG trial.

METHOD

A cross-sectional analysis of cardiovascular risk in people with T2DM and a subgroup prescribed SGLT2 inhibitors. Patients were identified from the Royal College of General Practitioners Research and Surveillance Centre database. Cardiovascular risk factors were identified from electronic patient records.

RESULTS

From 1,238,909 patients at 128 GP practices, we identified 60,327 adults with T2DM (mean age 66.1 years, SD 13.9) of whom 55.6% were male. From these 1642 (2.7%) people had been initiated on an SGLT2 inhibitor (mean age 58.1 years, SD 10.4; 58.8% male). In the complete T2DM group only 15.7% (95% CI 15.5-16.0%) had the same high cardiovascular risk as those included in the EMPA-REG trial. In those already initiated on SGLT2 inhibitors this proportion was 11.1% (95% CI 9.8-12.4%). Whilst the proportion was higher in the oldest age groups, in those 70+ years old less than a quarter met the EMPA-REG trial high cardiovascular risk criteria.

CONCLUSIONS

The EMPA-REG trial results are applicable only to a small proportion of people with T2DM and a smaller proportion of those currently treated with SGLT2 inhibitors. Additional data are required to identify any cardiovascular benefit in people with lower cardiovascular risk.

FUNDING

AstraZeneca.