WEDNESDAY, Dec. 15, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- Sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitor (SGLT2i) use is associated with a decreased risk for cardiovascular (CV) death or hospitalization for heart failure (HHF) in patients with heart failure and ejection fraction >40 percent, according to a review and meta-analysis published online Dec. 1 in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology.
Vasiliki Tsampasian, from University of East Anglia in the United Kingdom, and colleagues conducted a systematic literature review and meta-analysis with a primary end point of CV death and HHF.
Based on five studies (9,726 patients), the researchers found that the use of SGLT2i was associated with a significant reduction in CV death or HHF (hazard ratio [HR], 0.78; 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 0.69 to 0.87) and in HHF (HR, 0.71; 95 percent CI, 0.61 to 0.84) versus placebo. The groups were similar in terms of CV death (HR, 1.01; 95 percent CI, 0.80 to 1.28) and all-cause mortality (HR, 1.01; 95 percent CI, 0.89 to 1.14). When limiting the analysis to data for patients with left ventricular ejection fraction >50 percent (5,928 patients), there was a reduction observed in CV death or HHF (HR, 0.77; 95 percent CI, 0.66 to 0.91) in the SGLT2i group.
"For many years there was not a single medicine that could improve the outcome in patients with the second type of heart failure -- those patients with preserved ejection fraction," a coauthor said in a statement. "This is the first medication that can really improve the outcomes for this patient group, and it will revolutionize the treatment offered to heart failure patients."
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