The cardiovascular benefits of the diabetes drug dapagliflozin extend across a wide spectrum of patients and are especially pronounced in those with reduced ejection fraction, a measure of the heart’s pumping ability indicative of poor heart functioning, according to research presented at the American College of Cardiology’s 68th Annual Scientific Session.
The cardiovascular benefits of the diabetes drug dapagliflozin extend across a wide spectrum of patients and are especially pronounced in those with reduced ejection fraction, a measure of the heart’s pumping ability indicative of poor heart functioning, according to research presented at the American College of Cardiology’s 68th Annual Scientific Session.
The findings stem from the DECLARE-TIMI 58 trial, which reported in 2018 that dapagliflozin, part of a class of drugs known as SGLT2 inhibitors, reduced the composite primary endpoint of cardiovascular death and heart failure hospitalizations, which was mainly driven by the reduction in hospitalization for heart failure. The new analysis is the first to examine whether dapagliflozin’s benefits can be predicted based on left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), a measure of how effectively the heart’s left ventricle squeezes blood out of its chamber. Ejection fraction, typically evaluated using an ultrasound of the heart known as an echocardiogram, is a tool for objectively evaluating heart function and has been shown to predict how patients respond to other therapies.
Heart failure is a condition in which the heart cannot pump enough blood to meet the body’s needs. Low ejection fraction can be evidence of heart failure, though many patients have heart failure with normal, or preserved, ejection fraction. Researchers found dapagliflozin decreased heart failure hospitalizations across all patients, regardless of ejection fraction or whether or not they had heart failure at the start of the study. However, the drug significantly decreased rates of death from cardiovascular causes and death from all causes only among those who had a lower ejection fraction.
Read more at American College of Cardiology
