Heart failure is a condition that affects over 64 million people worldwide. Half of these people have mildly reduced or preserved ejection fraction.
Recently, researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital and other institutions found that drugs originally developed to treat type 2 diabetes can help a wide range of patients with heart failure.
The researchers found that a drug called dapagliflozin, which had previously been used to treat patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction, may also benefit patients with mildly reduced or preserved ejection fraction.
This population of patients has had limited treatment options in the past.
In their study, the researchers found that treatment with dapagliflozin can benefit heart failure patients across the full spectrum of ejection fraction.
This suggests that dapagliflozin and other drugs like it can be used as a foundational treatment for heart failure patients, regardless of ejection fraction.
Dapagliflozin is a type of drug called a sodium-glucose co-transporter-2 (SGLT2) inhibitor.
This class of drugs causes the body to excrete sugar in the urine, which helps control blood sugar levels in patients with diabetes.
SGLT2 inhibitors have also been shown to provide significant cardiovascular and kidney disease benefits.
The authors of the study note that there are some limitations to their work, but they hope to continue to evaluate potential treatments so that they can provide the best possible care to patients with heart failure.
The goal is to help patients lead longer, healthier lives and to prevent hospitalization and morbidity while improving health-related quality of life.
The study was conducted by Scott Solomon and others and published in the New England Journal of Medicine and The Lancet.
If you care about diabetes, please read studies about how to prevent heart attack in people with diabetes, and green tea could help reduce death risk in diabetes.
For more information about heart health, please read studies about how eating eggs can help reduce heart disease risk, and herbal supplements could harm your heart rhythm.
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