MONDAY, Jan. 27, 2025 (HealthDay News) — For patients with overweight or obesity and type 2 diabetes, dapagliflozin plus regular calorie restriction is associated with a significantly higher rate of remission of diabetes compared with calorie restriction alone, according to a study published online Jan. 22 in The BMJ.
Yuejun Liu, from Fudan University in Shanghai, and colleagues conducted a multicenter, double-blind randomized trial in 16 centers in China from June 12, 2020, to Jan. 31, 2023, involving 328 patients with type 2 diabetes aged 20 to 70 years, with body mass index >25 kg/m2 and diabetes duration of less than six years. Patients were randomly assigned to calorie restriction with dapagliflozin 10 mg/day or placebo.
The researchers found that diabetes remission was achieved in 44 and 28 percent of patients in the dapagliflozin and placebo groups, respectively, over 12 months (risk ratio, 1.56), meeting the predefined primary end point. Significantly greater changes in body weight (difference, −1.3 kg) and homoeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (difference, −0.8) were seen in the dapagliflozin versus placebo group. Likewise, compared with the placebo group, significantly more improvement was seen in body fat, systolic blood pressure, and metabolic risk factors in the dapagliflozin group. The occurrence of adverse events did not differ between the groups.
“Our findings provide an alternative and more practical strategy than intensive weight management to achieve remission for patients with early type 2 diabetes,” the authors write.
The study was partially funded by AstraZeneca, the manufacturer of dapagliflozin.
Copyright © 2025 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
