A real-world data analysis investigating the cardioprotective effects of glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists among people with type 2 diabetes in England
Authors: Connolly D L , Bain S C , Collins E , Ren H , Ming S W Y , Davidson J 
Published: October 2024

Background

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a common and major complication of type 2 diabetes (T2D). Anti-diabetic therapy aims to lower blood glucose, with primary clinical trial endpoints for new antidiabetic entrants focused on HbA1c. Research suggests some glucose-lowering drugs, including glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs), can have a cardioprotective effect in people with T2D.1,2

Purpose

To compare the real-world risk of major adverse cardiovascular event (MACE) in people with T2D treated with GLP-1 RAs compared to dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitors or basal insulin.

Methods

We conducted a retrospective cohort study using linked primary care data from the Clinical Practice Research Datalink Aurum, secondary care Hospital Episode Statistics and Office for National Statistics death registrations. We included patients aged ≥18 years with T2D at high-risk or very-high-risk of CVD (as defined by the European Society of Cardiology) who had ≥2 prescriptions of either GLP-1 RA (dulaglutide, liraglutide, and semaglutide), DPP-4 inhibitor (as part of line 4 therapy) or basal insulin from 01/01/2014-31/12/2018. We excluded those pregnant at therapy initiation or with type 1 diabetes. Follow-up started at second prescription of relevant therapy and ended at the earliest of two years later, pregnancy, death, end of primary care record, or 31/12/2019. We used data from patients’ medical histories to define baseline characteristics. We calculated the incidence of MACE per 100,000 person-years (PY), defined as non-fatal myocardial infarction, non-fatal stroke, and cardiovascular death. We used Cox proportional hazards regression, using LASSO to select confounding clinical variables including BMI, prior MACE and intercurrent antidiabetic treatments, to estimate risk difference of MACE among those treated with 1) GLP1-RA and DPP-4 inhibitor and 2) GLP1-RA and basal insulin.

Results

We included 63,237 patients, among whom the patients treated with GLP1-RA were younger and a higher proportion were obese or severely obese than those treated with DPP-4 inhibitor or basal insulin (Table 1). The incidence of MACE was highest in those treated with DPP-4 inhibitor (high-risk 1,503.0/100,000 PY; very-high-risk 6,000.7/100,000 PY) followed by basal insulin (high-risk 1,396.9/100,000 PY; very-high-risk 5,707.1/100,000 PY), and lowest in those treated with GLP1-RA (high-risk 377.1/100,000 PY; very-high-risk 1,946.1/100,000 PY). After adjustment, the risk of MACE among patients treated with GLP1-RA was still significantly lower than those treated with either DPP-4 inhibitor (high-risk aHR: 0.42, 95% CI 0.21-0.86 and very-high-risk aHR: 0.65, 95% CI 0.58-0.73) or those treated with basal insulin (high-risk aHR: 0.36, 95% CI 0.18-0.72 and very-high-risk aHR: 0.72, 95% CI 0.64-0.81).

Conclusion(s)

Our study supports clinical trial and other observational research studies which find a cardioprotective effect of GLP-1 RA use in people with T2D.