Cardiovascular outcomes associated with canagliflozin vs. other non-gliflozin antidiabetic drugs

A large cohort study compared the cardiovascular safety of canagliflozin, a sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitor, with three types of non-gliflozin agents used to treat type 2 diabetes. Researchers representing Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital, both located in Boston, used a large U.S. commercial health care database to identify adult diabetics with no baseline heart disease. For their sample, they singled out those who began taking canagliflozin, a DPP-4 inhibitor, a GLP-1 receptor agonist (GLP-1RA), or a sulfonylurea during the time frame of April 2013–September 2015. Results from the retrospective analysis indicated that canagliflozin correlated with a 30%–49% lower risk of hospitalization due to heart failure. The risk of myocardial infarction or stroke, meanwhile, was similar in comparisons with the three classes of non-gliflozin drug commonly used for diabetes care.