Should sulfonylurea be discontinued or maintained at the lowest dose when starting ipragliflozin? A multicenter observational study in Japanese patients with type 2 diabetes.

Aims/introduction: We investigated the difference in efficacy and safety between discontinuation and maintaining of sulfonylurea when adding a sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitor.

Materials And Methods: In the present multicenter, prospective observational study, 200 patients with type 2 diabetes treated with sulfonylurea and with a need to add ipragliflozin were enrolled and divided into two groups: discontinued sulfonylurea (Discontinuation group) or maintained sulfonylurea, but at the lowest dose (Low-dose group) when adding ipragliflozin. We compared the two groups after 24 weeks using propensity score matching to adjust for differences between the groups.

Results: In the matched cohort (58 patients in each group), baseline characteristics of both groups were balanced. The primary outcome of the proportion of patients with non-exacerbation in glycated hemoglobin after 24 weeks was 91.4% in the Low-dose group and 75.9% in the Discontinuation group, a significant difference (P = 0.024). However, bodyweight was significantly decreased in the Discontinuation group compared with the Low-dose group (-4.4 ± 2.1 kg vs -2.9 ± 1.9 kg, P < 0.01). Similarly, liver enzyme improvement was more predominant in the Discontinuation group. A logistic regression analysis showed that high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, age and sulfonylurea dose were independent factors associated with non-exacerbation of glycated hemoglobin in the Discontinuation group.

Conclusions: The purpose of using ipragliflozin should be considered when making the decision to discontinue or maintain sulfonylurea at the lowest dose. Furthermore, low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol level, low dose of sulfonylurea and younger age were possible markers to not show worsening of glycemic control by discontinuing sulfonylurea.