Sodium-glucose co-transporter-2 inhibitors improve cardiovascular outcomes in heart failure with reduced ejection fraction regardless of ischemic etiology

Abstract

Abstract Background Coronary artery disease remains the main underlying cause of heart failure (HF), despite the progress in prevention, diagnosis and treatment. Sodium-glucose co-transporter-2 inhibitors have been shown to improve surrogate cardiovascular outcomes in patients with HF with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF), regardless of diabetes status. Purpose We sought to determine the effect of SGLT-2 inhibitors on the primary composite endpoint (cardiovascular death or hospitalization for HF) across the two hallmark trials in the HFrEF population (EMPEROR Reduced and DAPA-HF), according to ischemic or non-ischemic etiology of HF. Methods We pooled data from EMPEROR reduced and DAPA-HF trials in a total of 8,474 patients with HFrEF, performing a sub-analysis according to the presence of ischemic cardiomyopathy as the underlying cause of HFrEF. Results Treatment with SGLT-2 inhibitors resulted in a significant decrease in the risk for the primary composite outcome in patients with HFrEF of ischemic etiology, equal to 18% (RR=0.82, 95% CI: 0.73–0.92, I2=0%). In patients with HFrEF of non-ischemic etiology, SGLT-2 inhibitors produced a significant decrease in the risk for the primary composite outcome equal to 18% (RR=0.72, 95% CI: 0.63–0.82, I2=0%). Despite the greater effect in patients with non-ischemic HFrEF, no subgroup difference was detected (p=0.16). Generated results are summarized in Figure 1. Conclusions SGLT-2 inhibitors improve surrogate cardiovascular outcomes both in patients with ischemic and non-ischemic HFrEF. Funding Acknowledgement Type of funding sources: None. Figure 1