Effectiveness of semaglutide on survival outcomes in patients with type 2 diabetes and chronic kidney disease

Abstract

Background Type 2 diabetes (T2D) and chronic kidney disease (CKD) significantly increase the risk of cardiovascular events, including death and heart failure (HF). The FLOW trial demonstrated that semaglutide reduces all-cause death, cardiovascular events and HF risk in patients with T2D and CKD. Since there is a difference in patient characteristics between clinical trials and real-world data, this study aims to investigate the association of semaglutide and all-cause death, acute HF or cardiovascular outcomes in patients with T2D and CKD using the data platform.Methods This multicentre retrospective observational study using TriNetX, a global healthcare data platform. We identified 1 151 750 patients aged ≥18 years with T2D and CKD diagnosed before 31 December 2020. Among these, 14 511 patients initiated semaglutide and 69 700 initiated sitagliptin between 1 January 2018 and 31 December 2020. After propensity score matching, 13 703 patients were included in each group. The primary outcome was the 3-year incidence of all-cause death. Secondary outcomes included acute HF, acute myocardial infarction and stroke.Results The 3-year risk of all-cause death in the semaglutide group relative to the sitagliptin group was significantly lower (7.2% (943/13 703) vs 9.5% (1196/13 703); p<0.001; HR, 0.76; 95% CI, 0.70 to 0.83). Similarly, the semaglutide group was less likely to have acute HF (12.1% vs 13.1%; HR, 0.92; 95% CI, 0.86 to 0.98). However, the risks of acute myocardial infarction and stroke in the semaglutide group relative to the sitagliptin group were not significant (9.6% vs 9.5%; HR, 1.01; 95% CI, 0.93 to 1.09 in acute myocardial infarction, and 9.2% vs 9.0%; HR, 1.02; 95% CI, 0.94 to 1.10 in stroke).Conclusions In patients with T2D and CKD, semaglutide was associated with a lower 3-year risk of all-cause death compared with sitagliptin.