Abstract 15526: Glucagon-like Peptide-1 Receptor Agonists Reduce Adverse Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) Events in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes: An Assessment of Heterogeneity Among CVD Outcomes and a Meta-regression Analysis

Introduction: Recent evidence suggests glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RA) reduce adverse cardiovascular disease (CVD) events. The objective of this study is to analyze randomized controlled trials (RCTs) testing GLP-1 RA’s effects on CVD among participants with type 2 diabetes (T2DM). Methods: RCTs comparing GLP-1 RA versus placebo among participants with T2DM were identified using PubMed and Cochrane databases. The endpoints of this analysis included major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE; a composite of cardiovascular death, nonfatal myocardial infarction (MI), and nonfatal stroke), and the individual components of MACE. The primary analysis calculated risk ratios (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for each endpoint. Heterogeneity for each endpoint was calculated using Chi 2 and I 2 tests. For any endpoint with significant heterogeneity, a meta-regression was performed using baseline hemoglobin A1C (A1C) in each RCT as the moderator and a R 2 value was calculated. Results: 7 RCTs (N = 56,004) were identified with 174,163 patient years of follow-up. GLP-1 RA reduced MACE [RR 0.89, 95% CI 0.83-0.95], cardiovascular death [RR 0.88, 95% CI 0.81-0.95], and nonfatal stroke [RR 0.85, 95% CI 0.77-0.94]. There was no significant heterogeneity among these RCTs (Figure 1). GLP-1 RA did not reduce nonfatal MI [RR 0.91, 95% CI 0.82-1.02]. However, there was significant heterogeneity among these RCTS (Chi 2 =12.94, p=0.04, I 2 =54%). When accounting for A1C in the regression model, there was no longer significant heterogeneity for this endpoint (p=0.23, I 2 =27%). A relationship between A1C and GLP-1 RA’s effect on nonfatal MI (R 2 =0.64, Figure 1) was observed when performing the meta-regression. Conclusion: GLP-1 RA reduced MACE, cardiovascular death, and nonfatal stroke in patients with T2DM with minimal heterogeneity among RCTs. GLP-1 RA did not reduce nonfatal MI, however there may be an association between A1C and GLP-1 RA’s effect on nonfatal MI.