Sodium-Glucose Co-Transporter 2 (SGLT-2) Inhibitors in Heart Failure: A Comprehensive Review of Literature

Abstract

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is highly prevalent in the modern world due to a rise in obesity. Diabetes can give rise to many secondary ailments among which heart failure is the most common. Heart failure brings about confirmatory changes in the myocardium which shifts the metabolism from glucose to fatty acid which further impairs cardiac function. Among the antidiabetic agents, SGLT2 inhibitors such as empagliflozin and dapagliflozin have decreased heart failure exacerbations even in the absence of diabetes. We employed search engines such as Google Scholar, MEDLINE, and Euro PMC for our article search. The keywords such as heart failure, SGLT2 inhibitors, and diabetes were used. Duplicate studies were excluded during our analysis. According to the literature, several theories have been put forward on the mechanisms through which SGLT2 inhibitors can work in heart failure. Mainly they work by lowering blood pressure, improvement of cardiac energy metabolism, anti-inflammatory effect, protecting from cardiac remodeling, diuresis, and natriuretic effects.