BACKGROUND: Cardiovascular outcome trials have suggested that glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists might reduce strokes. We analysed the effect of dulaglutide on stroke within the researching cardiovascular events with a weekly incretin in diabetes (REWIND) trial. METHODS: REWIND was a multicentre, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial done at 371 sites in 24 countries. Men and women (aged ≥50 years) with established or newly detected type 2 diabetes whose HbA1c was 9·5% or less (with no lower limit) on stable doses of up to two oral glucose-lowering drugs with or without basal insulin therapy were eligible if their body-mass index was at least 23 kg/m2. Participants were randomly assigned (1:1) to weekly subcutaneous injections of either masked dulaglutide 1·5 mg or the same volume of masked placebo (containing the same excipients but without dulaglutide). Randomisation was done by a computer-generated random code with an interactive web response system with stratification by site. Participants, investigators, the trial leadership, and all other personnel were masked to treatment allocation until the trial was completed and the database was locked. During the treatment period, participants in both groups were instructed to inject study drug on the same day at around the same time, each week. Strokes were categorised as fatal or non-fatal, and as either ischaemic, haemorrhagic, or undetermined. Stroke severity was assessed using the modified Rankin scale. Participants were seen at 2 weeks, 3 months, 6 months, and then every 3 months for drug dispensing and every 6 months for detailed assessments, until 1200 confirmed primary outcomes accrued. The primary endpoint was the first occurrence of any component of the composite outcome, which comprised non-fatal myocardial infarction, non-fatal stroke, or death from cardiovascular or unknown causes. All analyses were done according to an intention-to-treat strategy that included all randomly assigned participants, irrespective of adherence. The trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT01394952. FINDINGS: Between Aug 18, 2011, and Aug 14, 2013, we screened 12 133 patients, of whom 9901 with type 2 diabetes and additional cardiovascular risk factors were randomly assigned to either dulaglutide (n=4949) or an equal volume of placebo (n=4952). During a median follow-up of 5·4 years, cerebrovascular and other cardiovascular outcomes were ascertained and adjudicated. 158 (3·2%) of 4949 participants assigned to dulaglutide and 205 (4·1%) of 4952 participants assigned to placebo had a stroke during follow-up (hazard ratio [HR] 0·76, 95% CI 0·62-0·94; p=0·010). Dulaglutide reduced ischaemic stroke (0·75, 0·59-0·94, p=0·012) but had no effect on haemorrhagic stroke (1·05, 0·55-1·99; p=0·89). Dulaglutide also reduced the composite of non-fatal stroke or all-cause death (0·88, 0·79-0·98; p=0·017) and disabling stroke (0·74, 0·56-0·99; p=0·042). The degree of disability after stroke did not differ by treatment group. INTERPRETATION: Long-term dulaglutide use might reduce clinically relevant ischaemic stroke in people with type 2 diabetes but does not affect stroke severity. FUNDING: Eli Lilly and Company.

Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute Melbourne VIC Australia

Department of Diabetes and Nutrition Iuliu Hatieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy Cluj Napoca Romania

Department of Internal Medicine Dresden Technical University Dresden Germany

Department of Internal Medicine Universidad de La Frontera Temuco Chile

Department of Medicine K2 Karolinska Institutet Stockholm Sweden

Department of Medicine Oregon Health and Science University Portland OR USA

Department of Medicine University of Cape Town Cape Town South Africa

Department of Medicine University of Washington Seattle WA USA

Eli Lilly and Company Indianapolis IN USA

Endocrinology and Nutrition Department Hospital Clínic i Universitari Barcelona Spain

Estudios Clínicos Latino América Rosario Argentina

Hospital Alemão Oswaldo Cruz São Paulo Brazil

Hungarian Institute of Cardiology Semmelweis University Budapest Hungary

Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute St Michael's Hospital University of Toronto Toronto ON Canada

Masira Research Institute Medical School Universidad de Santander UDES and FOSCAL Bucaramanga Colombia

Medical University of South Carolina Ralph H Johnson VA Medical Center Charleston SC USA

Memphis Veterans Affairs Medical Center Memphis TN USA

National Medical Research Center of Cardiology Moscow Russia

Population Health Research Institute Hamilton ON Canada

Population Health Research Institute Hamilton ON Canada; Department of Medicine McMaster University and Hamilton Health Sciences Hamilton ON Canada

Robert Koch Medical Center Sofia Bulgaria

Taichung Veterans General Hospital Taichung Taiwan

University Center of Health Sciences Universidad de Guadalajara Guadalajara Mexico

University Hospital Motol Prague Czech Republic

University of Edinburgh Edinburgh UK

Lancet Diabetes Endocrinol. 2020 Feb;8(2):90-92. doi: 10.1016/S2213-8587(19)30427-9. PubMed

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ClinicalTrials.gov
NCT01394952