Relationship of Dapagliflozin With Serum Sodium: Findings From the DAPA-HF Trial

JACC Heart Fail. 2022 May;10(5):306-318. doi: 10.1016/j.jchf.2022.01.019. Epub 2022 Apr 6.

Abstract

Objectives: This study aimed to assess the prognostic importance of hyponatremia and the effects of dapagliflozin on serum sodium in the DAPA-HF (Dapagliflozin And Prevention of Adverse outcomes in Heart Failure) trial.

Background: Hyponatremia is common and prognostically important in hospitalized patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction, but its prevalence and importance in ambulatory patients are uncertain.

Methods: We calculated the incidence of the primary outcome (cardiovascular death or worsening heart failure) and secondary outcomes according to sodium category (≤135 and >135 mmol/L). Additionally, we assessed: 1) whether baseline serum sodium modified the treatment effect of dapagliflozin; and 2) the effect of dapagliflozin on serum sodium.

Results: Of 4,740 participants with a baseline measurement, 398 (8.4%) had sodium ≤135 mmol/L. Participants with hyponatremia were more likely to have diabetes, be treated with diuretics, and have lower systolic blood pressure, left ventricular ejection fraction, and estimated glomerular filtration rate. Hyponatremia was associated with worse outcomes even after adjustment for predictive variables (adjusted HRs for the primary outcome 1.50 [95% CI: 1.23-1.84] and all-cause death 1.59 [95% CI: 1.26-2.01]). The benefits of dapagliflozin were similar in patients with and without hyponatremia (HR for primary endpoint: 0.83 [95% CI: 0.57-1.19] and 0.73 [95% CI: 0.63-0.84], respectively, P for interaction = 0.54; HR for all-cause death: 0.85 [95% CI: 0.56-1.29] and 0.83 [95% CI: 0.70-0.98], respectively, P for interaction = 0.96). Between baseline and day 14, more patients on dapagliflozin developed hyponatremia (11.3% vs 9.4%; P = 0.04); thereafter, this pattern reversed and at 12 months fewer patients on dapagliflozin had hyponatremia (4.6% vs 6.7%; P = 0.003).

Conclusions: Baseline serum sodium concentration was prognostically important, but did not modify the benefits of dapagliflozin on morbidity and mortality in heart failure with reduced ejection fraction. (Study to Evaluate the Effect of Dapagliflozin on the Incidence of Worsening Heart Failure or Cardiovascular Death in Patients With Chronic Heart Failure [DAPA-HF]: NCT03036124).

Keywords: dapagliflozin; heart failure; hyponatremia; sodium; sodium glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitor.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Benzhydryl Compounds
  • Glucosides
  • Heart Failure*
  • Humans
  • Hyponatremia* / complications
  • Hyponatremia* / epidemiology
  • Sodium
  • Stroke Volume
  • Ventricular Dysfunction, Left* / complications
  • Ventricular Function, Left

Substances

  • Benzhydryl Compounds
  • Glucosides
  • dapagliflozin
  • Sodium

Associated data

  • ClinicalTrials.gov/NCT03036124