Sitagliptin Has Neutral CV Risk Effect in Elderly With T2DM, CVD

THURSDAY, Jan. 12, 2017 (HealthDay News) — Sitagliptin has a neutral effect on cardiovascular risk among older patients with type 2 diabetes, according to a study published online Jan. 5 in Diabetes Care.

M. Angelyn Bethel, M.D., from the Oxford Center for Diabetes in the United Kingdom, and colleagues analyzed baseline characteristics and clinical outcomes for Trial Evaluating Cardiovascular Outcomes with Sitagliptin (TECOS) participants with type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Fourteen percent of the 14,351 participants with age recorded were aged ≥75 years.

The researchers found that older participants had significantly higher rates of the primary composite outcome (6.46 versus 3.67 events per 100 person-years; hazard ratio [HR], 1.72; 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 1.52 to 1.94), death (HR, 2.52; 95 percent CI, 2.20 to 2.89), severe hypoglycemia (HR, 1.53; 95 percent CI, 1.15 to 2.03), and fractures (HR, 1.84; 95 percent CI, 1.44 to 2.35) during 2.9 years of median follow-up. Sitagliptin did not significantly impact the primary composite outcome in the older cohort (HR, 1.10; 95 percent CI, 0.89 to 1.36), nor did it impact death (HR, 1.05 [95 percent CI, 0.83 to 1.32), heart failure hospitalization (HR, 0.99; 95 percent CI, 0.65 to 1.49), or severe hypoglycemia (HR, 1.03; 95 percent CI, 0.62 to 1.71).

“Among older patients with well-controlled type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, sitagliptin had neutral effects on cardiovascular risk and raised no significant safety concerns,” the authors write.

Several authors disclosed financial ties to pharmaceutical companies, including Merck, which manufactures sitagliptin and funded the TECOS trial.

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