Safety of SGLT2 inhibitors, one of the important diabetic medication may be questionable due to its increased potential to cause lower limb amputations and bone fractures
SGLT2 inhibitors, a new group of diabetic medications can cause rare serious adverse events like lower limb amputation, bone fracture, diabetic ketoacidosis, acute kidney injury, serious urinary tract infections blood clots and acute pancreatitis, according to the researchers. SGLT2 inhibitors are increasingly popular drugs for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. They lower blood glucose levels by increasing glucose loss through the kidneys, but concerns have been raised regarding their safety.
‘Patients with type 2 diabetes taking SGLT2 inhibitors are advised to take proper care of their foot to prevent fractures and amputations’
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To better understand these potential risks, an international research team analysed national registry data from Sweden and Denmark for 17,213 patients who started taking SGLT2 inhibitors and 17,213 patients who started taking GLP 1 receptor agonists between July 2003 and December 2016.Read More..
Patients were aged 35 years or more with no previous prescriptions for any of the study drugs, no history of severe kidney problems (dialysis or transplantation) or pancreatic disorders, and median follow-up time for the studied outcomes was between 270 and 274 days.
The main outcomes were lower limb amputation, bone fracture, diabetic ketoacidosis, acute kidney injury, serious urinary tract infection, venous thromboembolism and acute pancreatitis.
After taking account of a large number of potentially influential factors including disease history, other medications and socioeconomic indicators, use of SGLT2 inhibitors was associated with a two-fold increased risk of both lower limb amputation (2.7 vs 1.1 events per 1000 person years) and diabetic ketoacidosis (1.3 vs 0.6 events per 1000 person years), compared with GLP 1 receptor agonists.
But there was no significant risk increase for bone fracture, acute kidney injury, serious urinary tract infection, venous thromboembolism or acute pancreatitis.Findings remained consistent after further analyses to test the strength of the results.
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However, the study used nationwide registry data from a large number of patients, and the findings are consistent with previous research in the field.
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Source-Eurekalert