Increasing empagliflozin dose provides significant clinical benefits in type 2 diabetes: Study

Japan: Switching from low-dose to high-dose SGLT2 inhibitor empagliflozin provides significant clinical benefits in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), claims a recent study published in Diabetes Therapy. 

The study showed that increasing empagliflozin dose significantly improved body mass index (BMI), body weight (BW), γ-glutamyltranspeptidase (GGT), and triglyceride (TG), and increased hematocrit (Hct) in patients with T2DM. Also, baseline triglyceride (TG) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) independently predicted the improvement of HbA1c. 

"When considering increasing the dosage of SGLT2 inhibitors in T2D patients who have inadequate glycemic control, these findings may provide useful information," Takeshi Matsumura, Department of Metabolic Medicine, Faculty of Life Sciences, Kumamoto University, Kumamoto, Japan, and colleagues wrote in their study. 

Sodium-dependent glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors are reported to ameliorate blood glucose levels in type 2 diabetes by inhibiting the glucose reabsorption from glucose, thus increasing urinary glucose excretion. Most SGLT2 inhibitors have been reported to exert dose-dependent effects. However, not much is known about the benefits of increasing the dose of SGLT2 inhibitors in clinical use. 

Against the above background, the researchers aimed to investigate the effect of increasing the dose of the SGLT2 inhibitor empagliflozin in T2DM.

For this purpose, the researchers collected 52 subjects with T2DM with inadequate glycemic control. The empagliflozin dose was increased from 10 to 25 mg, taken once daily, and the alterations in glycemic control and several other clinical parameters were evaluated.