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Research Paper|Volume 13, Issue 9|pp 12748—12765

The different hypoglycemic effects between East Asian and non-Asian type 2 diabetes patients when treated with SGLT-2 inhibitors as an add-on treatment for metformin: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Xianzhi Li1,2,*, Qianping Zhang3,*, Xiaojun Zhou1,2, Siyi Guo4, Shan Jiang4, Yuhan Zhang2, Ruzhen Zhang2, Jianjun Dong4, Lin Liao1,2
  • 1Department of Endocrinology and Metabology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Shandong First Medical University & Shandong Provincial Qianfoshan Hospital, Shandong Key Laboratory of Rheumatic Disease and Translational Medicine, Shandong Institute of Nephrology, Ji-nan, Shandong 250014, China
  • 2Department of Endocrinology and Metabology, Shandong Provincial Qianfoshan Hospital, Shandong University, Shandong Key Laboratory of Rheumatic Disease and Translational Medicine, Shandong Institute of Nephrology, Ji-nan, Shandong 250014, China
  • 3Division of Endocrinology, Department of Internal Medicine, Dezhou Municipal Hospital, Dezhou, Shandong 253000, China
  • 4Department of Endocrinology, Qilu Hospital, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Ji-nan, Shandong 250012, China
* Equal contribution
Received: January 26, 2021Accepted: March 27, 2021Published: May 11, 2021
https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.202945

Copyright: © 2021 Li et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Abstract

Aims: To investigate the efficacy and safety of SGLT-2 inhibitors as an add-on treatment for metformin between Asian and non-Asian T2DM.

Methods: A systematic literature search of PubMed, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Library was performed through August 2020 with the following keywords: Sodium-Glucose Transporter 2 Inhibitors, Sodium Glucose Transporter 2 Inhibitors, SGLT2 inhibitor, SGLT-2 inhibitors, type 2 diabetes, and randomized controlled trials. Double-blinded RCTs comparing SGLT-2 inhibitors as an add-on treatment for metformin and metformin monotherapy in adults with type 2 diabetes were included. A random effects model was used to calculate overall effect sizes.

Results: 5 RCTs with 1193 Asian patients and 7 RCTs with 2098 non-Asian patients were investigated. The improvement in HbA1c and fasting blood glucose in the Asian patients (WMD, −0.73%; 95% CI, −1.01% to −0.46%, p < 0.01; WMD, −1.51; 95% CI, −1.81 to −1.21, p < 0.01, respectively) were both significantly better than in the non-Asians (WMD, −0.45%; 95% CI, −0.62% to −0.29%, p < 0.01; WMD, −1.03; 95% CI, −1.27 to −0.78, p < 0.01, respectively). The effect of weight loss was similar in the non-Asian patients and Asian patients. There was little difference in the improvement of systolic blood pressure between them. The risk of serious adverse events was not significantly increased between the Asian and non-Asian patients.

Conclusion: SGLT-2 inhibitors as an add-on treatment for metformin are more efficacious in East Asian T2DM patients than in non-Asian T2DM patients without an additional risk of severe adverse events.