Last update:

   15-Jan-2020
 

Arch Hellen Med, 37(1), January-February 2020, 62-65

ORIGINAL PAPER

Antidiabetic treatment in patients at high cardiovascular risk without a known history of cardiovascular disease

A.K. Papazafiropoulou, E. Xourgia, Α. Μelidonis
First Department of Internal Medicine and Diabetes Centre, "Tzaneio" General Hospital of Pireus, Pireus, Greece

OBJECTIVE Assessment of antidiabetic treatment trends in subjects with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) at high risk of development of cardiovascular disease (CVD).

METHOD The study sample consisted of 287 patients with T2DM (151 male), aged 66.3±10.5 years, who were examined at the Diabetes Center of the "Tzaneio" General Hospital. They had no known history of CVD. Their CVD risk was assessed by estimation of the atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) index, in relation to their treatment regimen.

RESULTS The majority of the study participants (86.1%) were classified as being at high risk of developing CVD. High-risk, compared with low-risk patients were treated more often with dipeptidyl-peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitors (49.2 versus 27.5%, respectively, p=0.01) and less often with glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) agonists (13.8 versus 25%, respectively, p=0.05).

CONCLUSIONS Treatment trends, as observed in our current study, reveal that despite the availability of antidiabetic agents with CV protective attributes and a favorable safety profile for heart failure, this form of treatment is not being successfully implemented in the clinical setting of high CVD risk.

Key words: Cardiovascular disease, Diabetes mellitus, GLP-1 agonists, SGLT-2 inhibitors.


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