Sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors and cardiovascular outcomes: insights from the CVD-REAL study

Cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of mortality among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (1). The increased risk of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in this patient population is not only caused by the increased blood glucose levels, but rather more due to the presence of other associated risk factors such as obesity, hypertension and dyslipidemia, also known as metabolic syndrome. This was proven when results from many studies revealed that the absolute glycemic control on its own is not associated with significant reduction in the risk of cardiovascular events (2-5).