The use of sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors in patients with type 2 diabetes and hypertension: a focus on African-American populations

ABSTRACT

Diabetes, hypertension, and severe kidney disease are all disproportionately prevalent in African-Americans. Clinical trials data from type 2 diabetes (T2D) patients have demonstrated that sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors have a positive effect on cardiovascular risk factors – such as improved blood glucose control, reduced body weight, and reduced blood pressure – and also support a possible renal-protective role for SGLT2 inhibitors. The EMPA-REG OUTCOME^® trial revealed that empagliflozin was associated with reduced adverse cardiovascular and renal outcomes. Thus, SGLT2 inhibitors could potentially provide clinicians with a treatment option that addresses multiple pathophysiologic aspects of the cardiometabolic disease processes that may affect end-organ function in African-American patients with T2D and hypertension. This review examines some of the clinical issues associated with this patient group and the role that SGLT2 inhibitors may provide in their treatment.

KEYWORDS:

• Diabetes
• hypertension
• kidney disease
• race
• sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors
• type 2 diabetes

Declaration of interest

The author received no direct compensation related to the development of the manuscript. Writing support was provided by Debra Brocksmith, MB ChB, PhD, of Envision Scientific Solutions, which was contracted and funded by Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (BIPI). BIPI was given the opportunity to review the manuscript for medical and scientific accuracy as well as intellectual property considerations. The author is a clinical trial investigator in the Boehringer Ingelheim Study 1245.29; (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT02182830; 24 Week Efficacy and Safety Study of Empagliflozin in Hypertensive Black/African American Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus). The author has no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

Additional information

Funding

This manuscript was funded by Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (BIPI).