Sodium-glucose co-transporter-2 (SGLT2) inhibitors offer significant outcome benefits beyond
glucose lowering including reduced risk of cardiovascular death, all-cause mortality, major adverse
cardiovascular events, hospitalisations for heart failure and progression of renal disease. Considering
these therapeutic effects, minimal ...
Sodium-glucose co-transporter-2 (SGLT2) inhibitors offer significant outcome benefits beyond
glucose lowering including reduced risk of cardiovascular death, all-cause mortality, major adverse
cardiovascular events, hospitalisations for heart failure and progression of renal disease. Considering
these therapeutic effects, minimal incremental risk for hypoglycaemia, and simplicity of
administration, this drug class appears to be an attractive therapeutic option for older adults, and
post-hoc analysis of trial data provides support for the use of SGLT2 inhibitors in this population.
Nevertheless, despite favourable clinical trial data, there has been some hesitance in clinical practice
prescribing these drugs to older frail adults, due to the limited therapeutic experience in this
population and insufficient long-term safety data. In this review article, we evaluate the risk-benefit
profile for the use of SGLT2 inhibitors in this population and suggest that rather than being a
treatment to avoid, SGLT2 inhibitors should be considered a valid therapeutic option for older frail
adults with or without diabetes.