Empagliflozin may decrease risk of kidney stones in people with diabetes

The diabetes drug empagliflozin may decrease the risk of kidney stones in patients with type 2 diabetes, according to a new study presented Sunday, June 12 at ENDO 2022, the Endocrine Society's annual meeting in Atlanta, Ga.

Diabetes is a well-known risk factor for kidney stones. Empagliflozin (Jardiance) is an SGLT2 inhibitor. This is a newer class of glucose-lowering medications that has been shown to have significant heart and kidney benefits in patients with type 2 diabetes. These benefits were also seen in people with heart failure and chronic kidney disease without diabetes in clinical trials.

Researchers used existing data from 20 randomized clinical trials to evaluate whether empagliflozin reduced the risk of kidney stones. They pooled data from 15,081 type 2 diabetes patients. Of these, 10,177 received empagliflozin and 4,904 received a placebo.

Patients took either empagliflozin or a placebo for about 1 ½ years. "Compared with placebo, treatment with empagliflozin was associated with an approximate 40% reduced risk of kidney stones in type 2 diabetes patients," said lead researcher Priyadarshini Balasubramanian, M.D., of the Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Conn. "While we do not know the precise mechanism underlying this benefit, the findings mean that empagliflozin may be used to prevent kidney stones in individuals with type 2 diabetes."

"Based on these findings, further research is needed to confirm these initial observations in patients with and without type 2 diabetes," Balasubramanian said.