Ertugliflozin reduces hospitalization risk due to heart failure in diabetes

Key findings of the study include:

• The primary outcome occurred in 11.9% of both placebo and ertugliflozin-treated patients, for a hazard ratio 0.97.
• The incidence of a major adverse cardiac event was 3.9 per 100 patient-years for patients given ertugliflozin at any dose and 4.0 per 100 patient-years for placebo patients.
• The results remained nonsignificant even when looking individually at the subgroups of patients who received either the 15 mg or 5 mg dose of ertugliflozin.
• A subgroup analysis of concomitant medication use revealed that patients on diuretics experienced a decreased risk of the composite of cardiovascular death or hospitalization for heart failure, with a hazard ratio of 0.74.
• The same pattern was not observed for patients who were not taking diuretics.
• Ertugliflozin therapy did appear to positively affect the risk of hospitalization for heart failure.
• Overall, 2.5% of patients taking ertugliflozin at any dose and 3.6% of placebo patients experienced hospitalization for heart failure, for a hazard ratio of 0.70.
• There were no differences among the groups with respect to the renal composite endpoint, but evaluation of temporal change in eGFR indicated a lower degree of decline overtime, with a least-square mean difference at 6 months relative to placebo of 3.0 mL/min/m² for patients in the 5 mg ertugliflozin arm, and 3.05 mL/min/m² for patients in the 15 mg ertugliflozin arm.