Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) portends high risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular (CV) events and of CV mortality; moreover, this group of patients has a very high probability of developing heart failure (HF). In this review, we discuss new advances in pharmacological treatment both in CV prevention and in HF management with a special focus on T2DM patients. A large number of randomized clinical trials and meta-analyses provided strong evidence about therapeutic strategies acting on glucose metabolism, such as GLP-1 RA and SGLT2i and about lipid-lowering treatment, such as PCSK9i and icosapent ethyl. Moreover, SGLT2i demonstrated strong evidence of benefit particularly in HF management both in diabetic and non-diabetic patients. The pathophysiological bases of multiple mechanisms of benefit of this class of drug explain the unexpected and remarkable results demonstrated both by prevention trials and by trials dedicated only to HF (like DAPA-HF). These, new drugs in the CV therapeutic armamentarium are establishing a new comprehensive approach from prevention to therapy of HF, giving more emphasis on HF classification in four stages (A→D). New therapies, which are on the horizon, promise to further reduce CV mortality and morbidity in HF patients irrespective of diabetic status.
Keywords: Atherosclerosis; Cardiovascular prevention; GLP-1 RA; Heart failure; Lipid-lowering treatment; SGLT2i.
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