Dapagliflozin a new approach in the treating patients with heart failure: DAPA – HF Trial

Cardiac health is very important as its one of the vital organs. Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the leading cause of death globally, taking an estimation of 17.9 million lives each year. Efforts to manage the mortality rate and adverse events of cardiac diseases is very crucial. Dapagliflozin, is a popular medication used to treat type 2 diabetes. It is also used to treat adults with certain kinds of heart failure and chronic kidney disease. The DAPA-HF trial published in American College of Cardiology says dapagliflozin is superior to placebo at preventing cardiovascular deaths and heart failure events among patients with heart failure. The purpose of the trial was to evaluate dapagliflozin (a sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 [SGLT2] inhibitor) compared with placebo among patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). Patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (irrespective of diabetes status) were randomized, 2,373 in dapagliflozin 10 mg daily versus 2,371 in placebo. The results showed that

•  The primary outcome of cardiovascular death, hospitalization for heart failure, or urgent heart failure visit occurred in 16.3% of the dapagliflozin group compared with 21.2% of the placebo group.
• Cardiovascular death was found to be 9.6% with dapagliflozin vs. 11.5% with placebo and Hospitalization for heart failure was 9.7% with dapagliflozin vs. 13.4% with placebo.
• Worsening of renal function was 1.2% with dapagliflozin vs. 1.6% with placebo
• The benefit with dapagliflozin was consistent across quartiles of baseline high sensitivity cardiac troponin hsTnT although patients in the top quartile had the greatest absolute risk reduction.

In conclusion Dapagliflozin was associated with a reduction in cardiovascular deaths and heart failure events. Dapagliflozin vs. placebo was associated with a reduction in recurrent heart failure events and also associated with improvement in symptoms. Dapagliflozin may signal a new approach in the treatment of patients with heart failure with reduced ejection Reference: https://www.acc.org/latest-in-cardiology/clinical-trials/2019/08/30/21/33/dapa-hf