LAUSR

Diabetes and heart failure (HF) independently contribute to significant cardiovascular (CV) morbidity and mortality. Both are tremendous burdens to health-care systems. Among patients with established HF, diabetes mellitus is one of the most common comorbidities, present in up to 45% of all patients. Although atherosclerotic CV disease outcomes are thought to be the major cause of morbidity and mortality among patients with diabetes, HF death and hospitalization has been recognized as being just as common. However, despite this evidence, HF as an outcome among trials of glucose-lowering therapies has been largely ignored. Now, there are 3 noninferiority CV outcome trials that have demonstrated the efficacy of sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 (SGLT-2) inhibitors to reduce the risk of HF hospitalizations in patients with type 2 diabetes with CV risk factors and/or established atherosclerotic CV disease. The demonstration of a reduction in HF outcomes seen in these CV outcome trials represents a paradigm shift in the management of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and atherosclerotic CV disease or CV risk factors. Whether SGLT-2 inhibitors represent a therapeutic strategy to reduce the risk of CV events among patients with established HF remains to be explored. Furthermore, the benefit of SGLT-2 inhibitors in a population of patients with HF yet without diabetes remains to be demonstrated across multiple trials. This review aims to highlight the clinical trial and real-world evidence regarding the safety and efficacy of SGLT-2 inhibitors among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and established HF.