Abstract
One of the most feared repercussions of type 2 diabetes mellitus is the risk of adverse cardiovascular outcomes. The current antidiabetic agents on the market have had difficulty in showing cardiovascular outcome improvement. The EMPA-REG OUTCOME trial studied the sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitor empagliflozin in type 2 diabetic patients at high risk of cardiovascular events. The trial results revealed a decrease in the composite primary end points of death from cardiovascular causes, nonfatal myocardial infarction, and nonfatal stroke in those taking empagliflozin vs placebo. Those taking the medication also had a significant decrease in death from any cause, death from cardiovascular cause, and hospitalization for heart failure. The EMPA-REG trial is paradigm shifting because it demonstrates a clear mortality benefit to cardiovascular outcomes with a low side-effect profile, in contrast to prior outcome studies of hypoglycemic agents. Further studies are required to better clarify the long-term safety and efficacy of this promising class of diabetic drugs.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 603-611 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | Therapeutics and Clinical Risk Management |
Volume | 13 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - May 3 2017 |
Keywords
- Cardiovascular mortality
- Diabetes
- Heart failure
- Hypertension
- SGLT2 inhibitors
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Safety Research
- Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics(all)
- Pharmacology (medical)
- Chemical Health and Safety