Real-world use of empagliflozin by people with type 2 diabetes gives similar reductions in HbA1c to that seen in clinical trials, Danish researchers say.

The investigators used Northern Denmark healthcare data from 2009-18 to identify new users of the SGLT-2 inhibitor and compared their characteristics with those of eligibility criteria in the four clinical trials of the drug.

Among 7034 first-time users of empagliflozin, 55% would have been ineligible for participation in the phase-3 trials, mainly because of their other glucose-lowering medications, HbA1c levels outside the required range, or severe comorbidities.

Despite having worse baseline characteristics than clinical-trial participants, real-world users experienced mean HbA1c reductions of 0.9 percentage points within six months, the researchers report in JAMA Network Open.