No impact of dapagliflozin on short-term BP variability in diabetics: Study

Greece: The use of SGLT2 inhibitor dapagliflozin does not affect short-term blood pressure variability (BPV) in type 2 diabetes (T2D) patients, suggests a recent study in the American Journal of Hypertension.

Increased BPV is known to increase the risk of cardiovascular and all-cause mortality in T2D patients. Sodium-glucose-co-transporter-2 (SGLT-2) inhibitors decrease the incidence of death, cardiovascular events, and renal events in this population. This study by Pantelis Sarafidis, University of Thessaloniki, Hippokration Hospital, Thessaloniki, Greece, and colleagues aimed to evaluate the effect of dapagliflozin on short-term BPV in T2D patients. 

For the purpose, the researchers performed a secondary analysis of a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial in 85 T2D patients. The subjects were randomized to receive oral dapagliflozin 10mg once daily or placebo for 12 weeks. The patients underwent 24-h ambulatory blood pressure (BP) monitoring with the Mobil-O-Graph NG device at baseline and study-end. With the use of validated formulae for the 24-h and the daytime and nighttime periods, the researchers calculated Standard-deviation (SD), weighted-SD (wSD), coefficient-of-variation (CV), average-real-variability (ARV) and variation-independent-of-mean (VIM).