Paradoxical real-life underuse of GLP-1 receptor agonists in type 2 diabetes patients with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease

Introduction

Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RAs) reduce the risk of cardiovascular (CV) complications in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM) and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) in placebo-controlled CV outcome trials, yet the use of these cardioprotective agents remains rather low in clinical practice.

Methods

Analysis of the proportion of T2DM patients treated with GLP-1RAs in retrospective observational studies by comparing patients with versus without established ASCVD.

Results

Nine cohorts from seven studies were collected in the international literature between 2019 and 2022. Overall, the percentages of patients treated with GLP-1RAs were low (< 10 %) in most studies, yet a progressive increase was noticed over time. The use of GLP-1RAs in patients with ASCVD was slightly lower in 7 out of 9 cohorts not higher when compared to the use in patients without ASCVD (odds ratio 0.80, 95 % CI 0.79–0.81).

Conclusion

Despite a positive trend over the last decade, the real-world use of GLP-1RAs remains limited, especially in patients with established ASCVD. Bridging the gap between clinical evidence of cardioprotective effects of GLP-1RAs and their underuse in clinical practice in T2DM patients at high/very high CV risk should be considered as a key objective for health care providers, especially cardiologists.