Despite guidelines advocating for their use, there is limited real-world evidence comparing the effects of once-weekly (OW) glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs) and dipeptidyl peptidase 4 inhibitors (DPP-4is) on the risk of cardiovascular events in individuals with type 2 diabetes (T2D) and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD). This retrospective cohort study compared the time to incidence of ischemic stroke, myocardial infarction (MI), and 2-point major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE; ischemic stroke or MI) while on treatment in new adult users of OW GLP-1 RAs and DPP-4is who had T2D and ASCVD using data from the Optum Clinformatics® Data Mart (2017-2021). Patients were followed until drug discontinuation, enrollment end, or an event. Inverse probability of treatment weighting was used to balance baseline characteristics, and survival analyses were conducted to compare risks during exposure, defined as continuous use of either drug. We found that users of OW GLP-1 RAs (weighted N=25,287) had significantly lower risks of ischemic stroke (HR=0.74 [95% CI, 0.63, 0.87]), MI (0.78 [0.67, 0.92]), and 2-point MACE (0.76 [0.68, 0.86]) compared with users of DPP-4is (weighted N=39,684; all P<0.01). This study suggests that OW GLP-1 RAs reduce the risk of MI and stroke relative to DPP-4is in individuals with T2D and ASCVD.
X. Tan: Employee; Merck & Co., Inc. Stock/Shareholder; Merck & Co., Inc. Employee; Novo Nordisk. Stock/Shareholder; Novo Nordisk. Y. Liang: Employee; Novo Nordisk. J.R. Rajpura: Employee; Novo Nordisk. L. Yedigarova: Employee; Novo Nordisk. Stock/Shareholder; AbbVie Inc. J. Noone: Employee; Novo Nordisk. L. Xie: Employee; Pfizer Inc., Novo Nordisk A/S. A. de Havenon: Consultant; Novo Nordisk, Integra Lifesciences Holdings Corp. Other Relationship; UpToDate. Stock/Shareholder; TitinKM, Certus.
