Study comparing the efficacy and renal safety for patients with diabetes switching from dapagliflozin to empagliflozin

Background Previously, dapagliflozin was limited to patients with an estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) ≥ 60 mL/min/1.73 m(2), while empagliflozin can be used for those with an eGFR ≥ 45 mL/min/1.73 m(2). Therefore dapagliflozin was switched to empagliflozin in many patients when eGFR decreased. However, the clinical efficacy and safety of these switcfhes are not clear. Objective In this study, we compared the efficacy and renal safety between patients switching from dapagliflozin to empagliflozin in patients. Setting This is a retrospective study of adult patients (aged ≥ 20 years) who had attended the Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital. Method This retrospective observational study included patients who were switched from dapagliflozin to empagliflozin. To assess the effect of other hypoglycemic drugs on efficacy, the types and dose alterations of other hypoglycemic drugs were classified on the defined daily dose (DDD). Main outcome measure The primary outcome measure was the change in hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) level after 6 months. Patients with HbA1c levels at or lower than the baseline value after 6 months were defined as effective and patients with levels higher than the baseline were defined as invalid. Safety was evaluated by comparing the difference of eGFR between the baseline value and 6 months after treatment. Results Overall, 111 patients were enrolled in the study. Six months after switching from dapagliflozin to empagliflozin, HbA1c significantly reduced, with no statistically significant difference observed in eGFR. In our study, 78 patients were assigned to the effective group (70.3%) and 33 patients were invalid (29.7%). When the other hypoglycemic drugs were grouped by total dosage, fasting plasma glucose and HbA1c only decreased significantly in the "DDD decrease" and "DDD increase" groups. Conclusion Our study showed that switching from dapagliflozin to empagliflozin in patients with type 2 diabetes was effective for blood glucose maintenance and caused no significant changes in renal function. In addition, compared to similar sodium-glucose co-transporter-2 inhibitors, other hypoglycemic drugs may be factors that influence the efficacy of sugar-lowering treatments.