#1549 The effect of sglt2 inhibitors (dapaglifozin) on albuminuria in patients of diabetic nephropathy above standard of care
Authors: Pahari Dilip Kumar , Singh Smriti 
Published: May 2024

Background and Aims

Albuminuria is the hallmark of diabetic nephropathy (DN) and progression of albuminuria denotes declining renal functions culminating in End Stage Renal Disease. Intensive blood glucose control (HbA1c &lt;7%), intensive blood pressure control (&lt;130/90 mmHg), blockade of Renin Angiotensin Aldosterone System (RAAS) by Angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors (ACE-i) and Angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) constitute the standard line of care for treatment of DN with proteinuria. Sodium Glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors (SGLT2i) are drugs are recently introduced for proteinuria reduction with no data available in this part of the world. Hence, I, observed the antiproteinuric effect of SGLT2i in patients who have type2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) with albuminuria and who are already on maximum doses of ACE-I or ARBs. My study population was on dapaglifozin due to easy availability and low cost.

Method

it is an observational study including patients who attended the out-patient clinic of Nephrology, at Medica Hospital, Kolkata between July 2022 to February 2023.

Inclusion criteria:  

Exclusion criteria:  

Quantitative estimation of urine albumin was performed using the VITROS Chemistry Products mALB Reagent along with the VITROS Chemistry Products Calibrator Kit 24 on the VITROS 5,1 FS Chemistry System and the VITROS 5600 Integrated System. Blood sugar was measured by glucose oxidase method. eGFR by CKD EPI equation.

Statistical Methodology  

Continuous variables were presented with mean and standard deviation and tested for normal distribution by the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. Categorical variables were summarized using frequency and percentages. For testing of related samples, Wilcoxon sign ranked test is used. Statistical analyses were performed using the SPSS software with version 26.0.

Results

A total of 100 patients were included in the study, of which 3 patients were lost to follow up and 2 patients discontinued the study at 3 months due to fall in eGFR below 25 ml/min/1.73 m2 and 4 patients discontinued after 3 months because of fungal genital infections. After Dapaglifozin administration, a significant reduction in Urine Albumin-creatinine ratio (UACR) was observed, by a percentage decrease of 37.3% (p&lt;0.001) at 3 months and of 70.2% (p&lt;0.001) at 6 months from baseline. Similarly, there was an acute reduction in eGFR from baseline. A percentage decrease by 5.16% (p&lt;0.001) was observed at 3 months & a decrease by 5.69% (p&lt;0.001) at 6 months from baseline.

Conclusion

Conventional approaches reduce but have not been able to stop disease progression in Diabetic Kidney Disease (DKD). SGLT2i can protect against the onset of DKD, slow disease progression independently. They have an antiproteinuric effect in patients with diabetic nephropathy which was sustained throughout the follow-up period in my study. Studies have also shown that SGLT2i reduce major adverse cardiovascular events in patients with T2DM and established cardiovascular disease. With the new results of EMPA-KIDNEY trial, SGLT2i are being used at even lower eGFR (&lt;25 ml/min/1.73 m2 till on hemodialysis) and such vast health benefits, invention of SGLT2i are is a boon to the mankind.