Cardiovascular Outcomes of Sitagliptin in Type 2 Diabetic Patients with Acute Myocardial Infarction, a Population-Based Cohort Study in Taiwan

BACKGROUND: The cardiovascular safety and efficacy of sitagliptin, a dipeptidyl peptidase 4 (DPP-4) inhibitor, in type 2 diabetic patients after acute myocardial infarction (AMI) has so far remained uncertain. METHODS: We analyzed data from the National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD), a government-operated, population-based database, from March 1st, 2009 to December 31st, 2011. Type 2 diabetic patients hospitalized for AMI were included in our study. We compared subjects using sitagliptin with comparison group to evaluate its cardiovascular safety and efficacy. The primary endpoint was a composite of cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, and ischemic stroke. RESULTS: We identified a total of 3,282 type 2 diabetic patients hospitalized for AMI (mean follow-up 1.15 years). Of these patients, 547 (16.7%) who were exposed to sitagliptin were defined as the sitagliptin group and 2,735 (83.3 %) who did not use sitagliptin were the comparison group. The incidence of primary composite cardiovascular outcomes was 9.50 per 100 person-years in the sitagliptin group and was 9.70 per 100 person-years in the comparison group (hazard ratio (HR), 0.97; 95% CI, 0.73–1.29, P=0.849). Compared to the non-sitagliptin group, the sitagliptin group had similar risks of all-cause mortality, hospitalization for heart failure (HF) or percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with a HR of 0.82 (95% CI, 0.61–1.11, P=0.195), 0.93 (95% CI, 0.67–1.29, P=0.660), and 0.93 (95% CI, 0.75–1.14, P=0.473), respectively. CONCLUSION: The use of sitagliptin in type 2 diabetic patients with recent AMI was not associated with increased risk of adverse cardiovascular events.