Failure to do so could result in inadequate diuresis and consequently water retention, which may lead to increased swelling in the body and even readmission for heart failure, he cautioned.
Following these initial findings, the team is planning to probe deeper into the mechanisms underlying the beneficial effects of SGLT2 inhibitors using a suite of new tools that will enable them to measure traces of the body’s metabolic pathways in urine.
At the same time, they are also expanding efforts to investigate the organ-protective benefits observed so far in people living with other chronic conditions, including kidney disease, diabetes or living with other ageing-related ailments.
“We are very excited because we finally have treatment options that will improve the outcomes for these chronically ill patients, but there clearly is much more to learn about how these drugs protect the heart and the kidneys, and maybe even improve longevity,” said first author of the study Dr Adriana Marton.
The consultant nephrologist and clinical investigator at Klinikum Nürnberg and its medical university, Paracelsus Medizinische Privatuniversität is currently conducting a follow-up clinical trial in patients with chronic kidney disease.
Added Titze: “We think that the drugs trigger some ancient and highly conserved evolutionary body survival signals that flip metabolic switches to improve heart and kidney function.”