SGLT2 inhibitors may decrease risk of cardiac events in patients treated with anthracyclines

USA: A new study published in the Journal of American College of Cardiology suggests that sodium-glucose co-transporter-2 (SGLT2) inhibitors were related to a decreased risk of cardiac events in individuals with cancer and diabetes who were treated with anthracyclines. Also, SGLT2 inhibitors appeared to be safe. 

Patients with documented heart failure benefit from SGLT2 inhibitors. Despite encouraging fundamental science research, there is no data on the efficacy of SGLT2 inhibitors in anthracycline-treated patients. As a result, Carlos A. Gongora and colleagues undertook this research to assess the cardiac effectiveness and overall safety of SGLT2 inhibitors in anthracycline-treated patients.

This research included 3,033 individuals with diabetes and cancer who had been treated with anthracyclines. Patients with cancer and diabetes who were on anthracyclines were included in the study (n = 32). Patients with cancer and diabetes who were also on anthracyclines but not taking an SGLT2 inhibitor were included in the control group (n = 96). The primary cardiac outcome was a combination of cardiac events (heart failure incidence, heart failure hospitalizations, new cardiomyopathy (>10% decrease in ejection fraction to 53%), and clinically severe arrhythmias). Overall mortality was the key safety result.