Cardiovascular outcomes of dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors in patients with type 2 diabetes on insulin therapy

[[abstract]]AIMS: To compare the hazard of cardiovascular diseases between DPP-4 inhibitor users and non-users who were on insulin therapy. METHODS: We conducted a population-based cohort study. 2652 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) under insulin therapy were enrolled during 1997-2010. The incidence rates per 1000 person-years (PYs) of stroke, coronary heart disease (CAD) and heart failure were compared between 1326 DPP-4 inhibitor users and 1326 propensity score matched non-users. Multivariable Cox proportional hazards model was used to evaluate excess risk of the DPP-4 inhibitor non-users. RESULTS: After adjustment of age, gender, comorbidities, drugs used and diabetes duration; the incidence rate per 1000 PYs were 21.70 and 9.88 in DPP-4 inhibitor non-users and users; DPP-4 inhibitor users had lower hazard ratio (HR) of stroke (adjusted HR: 0.59, 95% CI: 0.42-0.83, p value: 0.002) compared with non-users. The incidence rates per 1000 PYs of CAD and heart failure of control versus users were 19.85 versus 13.54 and 5.56 versus 4.78; the adjusted HRs of CAD and heart failure were 0.86 and 1.11. Both were non-significant. CONCLUSION: This nationwide study demonstrated that insulin plus DPP-4 inhibitor users had significantly lower risk of stroke as compared with non-users