Risk of major adverse limb events in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus receiving sodium glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors and glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists: A population-based retrospective cohort study

Background: Both sodium glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors (SGLT-2i) and glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RA) have cardiovascular protective effects in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. However, the comparative risk of GLP-1RA versus SGLT-2i for major adverse limb events remains unknown. Materials and methods: We studied a nationwide cohort involving 123,048 diabetes patients 20–100 years of age who initiated a SGLT-2i or GLP-1RA during 2012 and 2017. The patients in the two groups were matched by propensity score (PS), and incidence rates for hospitalization for major adverse limb events, critical limb ischemia (CLI) and lower extremity amputation (LEA), were assessed. Cox proportional hazards regression was applied to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) between patients receiving SGLT-2i as compared with GLP-1RA. The modification effects of age, a history of established cardiovascular disease, and chronic kidney disease were examined. In addition, use of dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitor (DPP-4i) was chosen as a second active comparator. Results: After PS-matching, a total of 13,378 SGLT-2i and 13,378 GLP-1RA initiators were identified. Use of SGLT-2i was not associated with an increased risk for hospitalization for CLI and LEA, either compared with GLP-1RA (HR, 1.13; 95% CI, 0.77–1.65 and 1.27; 95% CI, 0.63–2.55, respectively) or compared with DPP-4i use (HR, 1.06; 95% CI, 0.75–1.50 and HR, 0.80; 95% CI, 0.42–1.53, respectively). Although the study was underpowered to explore potential effect modification, a trend of higher risks for LEA was noted among SGLT-2i users with cardiovascular disease as compared with either GLP-1RA or DPP-4i. Conclusion: Use of SGLT-2i was not associated with higher risks for hospitalization for CLI and LEA as compared with reference drugs. Further large-scale studies are needed for a precise risk estimation.