Effect of Dapagliflozin in Patients with Heart Failure: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

BACKGROUND: Heart failure (HF) is a major cause of recurrent hospitalization and death worldwide. Sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors including dapagliflozin are anti-diabetic drugs with promising cardiovascular (CV) effects. We performed systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials investigating the effects of dapagliflozin in heart failure patients. METHODS: We searched PubMed, Scopus and ScienceDirect databases. A total of 1,567 studies from January 2017 to September 10, 2022, were screened. After applying exclusion criteria, 22 studies were retrieved for full-text screening, and nine of them were eligible for this meta-analysis. Effect estimates for dichotomous variables were expressed as risk ratio (RR) and 95% CI. The primary outcomes were the incidence of all-cause mortality, hospitalization due to HF, and CV death. This review was registered on PROSPERO with ID CRD42022347793. RESULTS: A total of 14,032 patients were included. The overall risk ratio of all-cause mortality favored the dapagliflozin group over the placebo/standard therapy group (RR = 0.89, 95% CI: 0.82–0.97, P = 0.006) and the pooled studies were not heterogenous (I(2) = 0%). Additionally, dapagliflozin significantly reduced the hospitalization due to heart failure (RR = 0.76, 95% CI: 0.70–0.84, P > 0.00001, I(2) = 0%), cardiovascular death (RR = 0.87, 95% CI: 0.78–0.97, P = 0.01, I(2) = 0%) and their composite outcomes. CONCLUSION: Dapagliflozin reduces the risk of all-cause mortality, heart failure hospitalizations and cardiovascular death in a wide range of heart failure patients.