[EMPA-KIDNEY: empagliflozin in chronic kidney disease].

Abstract

The inhibition of the renin-angiotensin system represents the first preventive treatment of the chronic kidney disease (CKD), especially in presence of albuminuria. Recently, sodium-glucose cotransporter type 2 inhibitors (SGLT2i, gliflozins) demonstrated a nephroprotective effect, first in patients with type 2 diabetes at cardiovascular risk, then in diabetic patients with CKD assessed by a reduction of the glomerular filtration rate (GFR) and albuminuria (CREDENCE with canagliflozin), and finally in patients with CKD and albuminuria, with or without diabetes (DAPA-CKD with dapagliflozin). EMPA-KIDNEY study compared the effects of empagliflozin 10 mg/day versus placebo in patients with CKD, with or without diabetes. In comparison with the two previous renal studies, this clinical trial randomised patients with a lower GFR (78 % of patients with GFR inferior to 45 mL/min/1.73 m²) and a lower level of albuminuria (20 % of patients without pathological albuminuria). EMPA-KIDNEY demonstrated a reduction by 28 % (p inferior to 0.001) of the primary composite outcome (progression of CKD or cardiovascular death) and of several renal endpoints, including the shift to terminal CKD (-33 %), independently of the presence of diabetes, and with a tolerance profile comparable to what is already known. EMPA-KIDNEY results reinforce the use of SGLT2is, in general, and of empagliflozin, in particular, in a broader population with CKD and, thus, the indication of this pharmacological class in nephrology in combination with inhibitors of the renin-angiotensin system.