Sodium‐glucose co‐transporter‐2 inhibitors and susceptibility to COVID‐19: A population‐based retrospective cohort study. Issue 1 (19th October 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Sainsbury, Christopher; Wang, Jingya; Gokhale, Krishna; Acosta‐Mena, Dionisio; Dhalla, Samir; Byne, Nathan; Chandan, Joht Singh; Anand, Astha; Cooper, Jennifer; Okoth, Kelvin; Subramanian, Anuradhaa; Bangash, Mansoor N.; Taverner, Thomas; Hanif, Wasim; Ghosh, Sandip; Narendran, Parth; Cheng, Kar K.; Marshall, Tom; Gkoutos, Georgios; Toulis, Konstantinos; Thomas, Neil; Tahrani, Abd; Adderley, Nicola J.; Haroon, Shamil; Nirantharakumar, Krishnarajah
• Is Part Of: Diabetes, obesity & metabolism. Volume 23:Issue 1(2021)
• Page Start: 263
• Page End: 269
• Publication Date: 2020-10-19
• Subjects: antidiabetic drug -- DPP‐4 inhibitor -- pharmaco‐epidemiology -- SGLT2 inhibitor -- type 2 diabetes; Diabetes -- Periodicals; Obesity -- Periodicals; Metabolism -- Disorders -- Periodicals; Clinical pharmacology -- Periodicals; 616.462
• DOI: 10.1111/dom.14203
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1462-8902

Abstract

Abstract: Sodium‐glucose co‐transporter‐2 (SGLT2) inhibitors are widely prescribed in people with type 2 diabetes. We aimed to investigate whether SGLT2 inhibitor prescription is associated with COVID‐19, when compared with an active comparator. We performed a propensity‐score‐matched cohort study with active comparators and a negative control outcome in a large UK‐based primary care dataset. Participants prescribed SGLT2 inhibitors (n = 9948) and a comparator group prescribed dipeptidyl peptidase‐4 (DPP‐4) inhibitors (n = 14 917) were followed up from January 30 to July 27, 2020. The primary outcome was confirmed or clinically suspected COVID‐19. The incidence rate of COVID‐19 was 19.7/1000 person‐years among users of SGLT2 inhibitors and 24.7/1000 person‐years among propensity‐score‐matched users of DPP‐4 inhibitors. The adjusted hazard ratio was 0.92 (95% confidence interval 0.66 to 1.29), and there was no evidence of residual confounding in the negative control analysis. We did not observe an increased risk of COVID‐19 in primary care amongst those prescribed SGLT2 inhibitors compared to DPP‐4 inhibitors, suggesting that clinicians may safely use these agents in the everyday care of people with type 2 diabetes during the COVID‐19 pandemic.