Risk of Hypoglycemia Associated with Concomitant Use of Insulin Secretagogues and ACE Inhibitors in Adults with Type 2 Diabetes: A Systematic Review

Insulin secretagogues and angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs) are commonly co-prescribed for patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D). Case reports suggesting that co-administration of insulin secretagogues with ACEIs is associated with an increased risk of serious hypoglycemia have led to warnings regarding a drug-drug interaction in widely used drug compendia. However, subsequent studies have had inconsistent results. We performed a systematic review to evaluate the evidence that concomitant use of ACEIs and insulin secretagogues increases the risk of serious hypoglycemia. MEDLINE/PubMed and Embase were searched from inception to July 2023 for studies evaluating adults with T2D treated with insulin secretagogues, such as sulfonylureas or meglitinides, and exposed to an ACEI. The primary outcome was serious hypoglycemia. A literature search yielded 472 papers, of which five met the inclusion criteria. The heterogeneity of the studies precluded meta-analysis. Two studies using multiple methods to address bias found no association between hypoglycemia and concomitant use of ACEI and insulin secretagogues. Three studies found potential associations, but only one was statistically significant; these studies were at serious or critical risk of bias due to potential confounding from lack of adjustment for renal dysfunction. The higher quality studies found no association between the concomitant use of insulin secretagogues with ACEI and hypoglycemia. Drug compendia and electronic health records should consider updating and removing alerts warning of a drug-drug interaction between insulin secretagogues as a class and ACEIs.