Study wrapper · #1281
Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 Receptor Agonist Use and Risks of Hospitalization and Mortality in Patients with End-Stage Kidney Disease.
Editor's note
This is the first sizeable look at GLP-1 receptor agonists in incident dialysis patients, a population excluded from the randomised outcome trials, so the question is worth asking. The exposure is class-level, defined as a prescription within the first 30 days of dialysis rather than semaglutide specifically, and the groups differed sharply at baseline (98% versus 73% with diagnosed diabetes, higher BMI, more pre-dialysis nephrology care), so selection by better underlying condition and better access to care is hard to rule out even after matching. Single-organisation EHR data with adherence after the index prescription unverified. Regard the effect sizes as hypothesis-generating pending a randomised trial in this group.
Plain-language abstract
Researchers at a large US dialysis provider matched 2,492 patients who began thrice-weekly in-centre haemodialysis while holding a GLP-1 receptor agonist prescription to similar patients who did not, then followed both groups. Those on a GLP-1 receptor agonist had about 9% fewer hospitalisations and a 17% lower death rate. The work extends a question the FLOW trial left open, since that trial studied semaglutide in chronic kidney disease but not in end-stage kidney disease.