Dapagliflozin for Cardio-renal Protection After ICU Discharge

Summary

Several millions of patients are admitted to ICUs in Europe or USA each year. We and others, have shown that patients discharged from intensive care units (ICU) have a high incidence of cardiovascular and/or renal events and high mortality rate (22%) during the year following ICU discharge. Furthermore, a very recent meta-analysis found an excess hazard of late cardiovascular events which persists for at least 5 years following hospital discharge in sepsis survivors. Hence, many international ICU societies recommended investigating and improving post-ICU outcome with scarce guidance. We demonstrated that the proportion of ICU patients dying or presenting cardiovascular events within the year following ICU discharge is reported \~25% \[2\], reaching \~40% in some studies when considering patients with acute kidney injury (AKI). Plasma biomarkers at ICU discharge have good predictive value and patients with increased kidney or cardiovascular biomarkers display high risk of such events. In addition, we and others demonstrated that AKI or sub-AKI (patient not meeting the AKI definition but with an increased kidney related biomarker) could induce remote cardio-vascular injury and fibrosis, which may be involved in the poor long-term prognosis of ICU-acquired AKI. We hypothesize that strategy that prevent worsening in cardiovascular and/or renal injuries and/or in cardiovascular consequences of sub-AKI and AKI after ICU discharge improve long-term outcomes in ICU survivors. SGLT2 inhibitors are widely recognized as key drugs to protect the kidney and/or the myocardium in chronic diseases such as diabetes or heart failure. Cardio protective effect of SGLT2 inhibitors is optimal in patients with higher cardiac biomarker.

Timeline

Start

2025-12-02

Primary completion

2029-01-15

Completion

2029-01-15

Publications

• Background Sano M, Goto S. Possible Mechanism of Hematocrit Elevation by Sodium Glucose Cotransporter 2 Inhibitors and Associated Beneficial Renal and Cardiovascular Effects. Circulation. 2019 Apr 23;139(17):1985-1987. doi: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.118.038881. No abstract available.
• Background Chang YK, Choi H, Jeong JY, Na KR, Lee KW, Lim BJ, Choi DE. Dapagliflozin, SGLT2 Inhibitor, Attenuates Renal Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury. PLoS One. 2016 Jul 8;11(7):e0158810. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0158810. eCollection 2016.
• Background Zelniker TA, Wiviott SD, Raz I, Im K, Goodrich EL, Bonaca MP, Mosenzon O, Kato ET, Cahn A, Furtado RHM, Bhatt DL, Leiter LA, McGuire DK, Wilding JPH, Sabatine MS. SGLT2 inhibitors for primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular and renal outcomes in type 2 diabetes: a systematic review and meta-analysis of cardiovascular outcome trials. Lancet. 2019 Jan 5;393(10166):31-39. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(18)32590-X. Epub 2018 Nov 10.
• Background Zannad F, Ferreira JP, Pocock SJ, Anker SD, Butler J, Filippatos G, Brueckmann M, Ofstad AP, Pfarr E, Jamal W, Packer M. SGLT2 inhibitors in patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction: a meta-analysis of the EMPEROR-Reduced and DAPA-HF trials. Lancet. 2020 Sep 19;396(10254):819-829. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(20)31824-9. Epub 2020 Aug 30.
• Background Depret F, Hollinger A, Cariou A, Deye N, Vieillard-Baron A, Fournier MC, Jaber S, Damoisel C, Lu Q, Monnet X, Rennuit I, Darmon M, Leone M, Guidet B, Sonneville R, Montravers P, Pili-Floury S, Lefrant JY, Duranteau J, Laterre PF, Brechot N, Oueslati H, Cholley B, Struck J, Hartmann O, Mebazaa A, Gayat E, Legrand M. Incidence and Outcome of Subclinical Acute Kidney Injury Using penKid in Critically Ill Patients. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2020 Sep 15;202(6):822-829. doi: 10.1164/rccm.201910-1950OC.
• Background Legrand M, Rossignol P. Cardiovascular Consequences of Acute Kidney Injury. N Engl J Med. 2020 Jun 4;382(23):2238-2247. doi: 10.1056/NEJMra1916393. No abstract available.
• Background Gayat E, Cariou A, Deye N, Vieillard-Baron A, Jaber S, Damoisel C, Lu Q, Monnet X, Rennuit I, Azoulay E, Leone M, Oueslati H, Guidet B, Friedman D, Tesniere A, Sonneville R, Montravers P, Pili-Floury S, Lefrant JY, Duranteau J, Laterre PF, Brechot N, Chevreul K, Michel M, Cholley B, Legrand M, Launay JM, Vicaut E, Singer M, Resche-Rigon M, Mebazaa A. Determinants of long-term outcome in ICU survivors: results from the FROG-ICU study. Crit Care. 2018 Jan 18;22(1):8. doi: 10.1186/s13054-017-1922-8.
• Background Arrigo M, Feliot E, Gayat E, Mebazaa A. Cardiovascular events after ICU discharge in patients with new-onset atrial fibrillation: A report from the FROG-ICU study. Int J Cardiol. 2018 Nov 1;270:203. doi: 10.1016/j.ijcard.2018.07.080. Epub 2018 Jul 20. No abstract available.
• Depret F, Chousterman B, Roger C, Garnier M, Lalande R, Kerforne T, Rouve E, Lukaszewicz AC, Ouattara A, Merdji H, Turbil E, Bouhemad B, Quenot JP, Delbove A, Levrat Q, Jully M, Legriel S, Bougouin W, Klouche K, Kimmoun A, Asfar P, Vicaut E, Mebazaa A. Dapagliflozin for cardiorenal protection after intensive care unit discharge: a protocol for a randomised controlled trial evaluating dapagliflozin at ICU discharge for cardiorenal protection (DAPA-ICU). BMJ Open. 2026 Apr 16;16(4):e108119. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2025-108119.

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