Different Doses of Empagliflozin in Patients with Heart Failure with Reduced Ejection Fraction

It was unclear whether there are discrepancies among the efficacy and safety of different doses of empagliflozin in patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). The aim of this study was to compare the efficacy and safety of 25 mg and 10 mg of empagliflozin in HFrEF patients.In this 3-month, single-center, open-label, randomized, positive-controlled, parallel-group study, 100 patients with HFrEF were divided into two groups, namely, groups A (n = 50) and B (n = 50), which were given 25 mg/day and 10 mg/day of empagliflozin, respectively. Cardiac function indexes at baseline and at the end of the third month were compared between the two groups, as well as adverse events during the 3-month follow-up period. The primary outcome of this study was the change in the left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), and the secondary outcomes were the change in the left ventricular end-diastolic diameter (LVEDD) and the incidences of hypotension, acute kidney injury (AKI), and genitourinary infections.At the end of the third month, the changes in the LVEF and LVEDD were greater in group A than those in group B (P < 0.05). During the 3-month follow-up period, the differences in the incidences of hypotension, AKI, and genitourinary infections between the two groups were statistically insignificant (P > 0.05).The results from this study suggested that 25 mg of empagliflozin might be better than 10 mg in improving heart function in HFrEF patients, and the safety profiles of 25 mg and 10 mg of empagliflozin are comparable. Further studies are expected to substantiate our speculations.