WASHINGTON—Dapagliflozin may correct anemia in patients with type 2 diabetes and chronic kidney disease (CKD), study findings presented at the American Society of Nephrology’s Kidney Week 2019 suggest.
Bergur V. Stefansson, MD, PhD, of AstraZeneca in Gothenburg, Sweden, and colleagues analyzed pooled data from 5325 patients who had participated in 14 double-blind randomized trials comparing the effect of dapagliflozin 10 mg and placebo on hemoglobin over 24 weeks. Dapagliflozin is a sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitor.
Of the whole population, 700 patients (13%) had anemia at baseline. The study population included 1168 (22%) patients with CKD (estimated glomerular filtration rate [eGFR] below 60 mL/min/1.73 m2) and 324 of those (28%) had anemia at baseline. The patients with anemia were older than those without anemia (mean age 63 vs 59 years), had a longer duration of type 2 diabetes (14 vs 9 years), and more often CKD (mean eGFR 66.3 vs 78.6 mL/min/1.73 m2 and mean urinary albumin to creatinine ratio of 274 vs 89 mg/g).
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The proportion of patients with anemia at baseline who had no anemia at week 24 was significantly higher among dapagliflozin than placebo recipients (52% vs 26%).
Dr Stefansson and colleagues defined anemia as a hemoglobin level below 12 and below 13 g/dL in women and men, respectively.
Dapagliflozin was well-tolerated, according to the investigators.
They concluded that the anemia-correcting effect of dapagliflozin is partially driven by a reduction in blood volume and the increase in hemoglobin beyond week 4 may be explained by other mechanisms.
Reference
Stefansson BV, L Heerspink HJL, Wheeler DC, et al. Correction of anemia by dapagliflozin in patients with T2D. Presented at the American Society of Nephrology’s Kidney Week 2019 meeting held November 5 to 10 in Washington, DC. Abstract SA-OR087.
