Ethnic Variations in Cardiovascular and Renal Outcomes From Newer Glucose-Lowering Drugs: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Outcome Trials

Background Hispanic populations are more likely to develop diabetes and its related diseases than non-Hispanic White populations. Little evidence exists to support whether the cardiovascular and renal benefits of sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors and glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists are generalizable to the Hispanic populations. Methods and Results We included the cardiovascular and renal outcome trials (up to March 2021) that reported the major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs), cardiovascular death/hospitalization for heart failure, and composite renal outcomes by ethnicity in individuals with type 2 diabetes (T2D), calculated pooled hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% CIs using fixed-effects models, and tested the differences between Hispanic and non-Hispanic populations (P for interaction [P_interaction]). In 3 sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitor trials, there was a statistically significant difference between Hispanic (HR, 0.70 [95% CI, 0.54-0.91]) and non-Hispanic (HR, 0.96 [95% CI, 0.86-1.07]) groups in treatment effects on MACE risk (P_interaction=0.03), except for risks of cardiovascular death/hospitalization for heart failure (P_interaction=0.46) and composite renal outcome (P_interaction=0.31). In 5 glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist trials, there was no statistically significant difference in treatment effect on MACE risk between Hispanic (HR, 0.82 [95% CI, 0.70-0.96]) and non-Hispanic (HR, 0.92 [95% CI, 0.84-1.00]) populations (P_interaction=0.22). In 3 dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitor trials, the HR for MACE risk appeared greater in Hispanic (HR, 1.15 [95% CI, 0.98-1.35]) than non-Hispanic (HR, 0.96 [95% CI, 0.88-1.04]) populations (P_interaction=0.045). Conclusions Compared with non-Hispanic individuals, Hispanic individuals with T2D appeared to obtain a greater benefit of lowered MACE risk with sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors.