AIMS: In heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF), there is an 'obesity paradox', where survival is better in patients with a higher body mass index (BMI) and weight loss is associated with worse outcomes. We examined the effect of a sodium-glucose co-transporter 2 inhibitor according to baseline BMI in the Dapagliflozin And Prevention of Adverse-outcomes in Heart Failure trial (DAPA-HF). METHODS AND RESULTS: Body mass index was examined using standard categories, i.e. underweight (<18.5 kg/m2 ); normal weight (18.5-24.9 kg/m2 ); overweight (25.0-29.9 kg/m2 ); obesity class I (30.0-34.9 kg/m2 ); obesity class II (35.0-39.9 kg/m2 ); and obesity class III (≥40 kg/m2 ). The primary outcome in DAPA-HF was the composite of worsening heart failure or cardiovascular death. Overall, 1348 patients (28.4%) were under/normal-weight, 1722 (36.3%) overweight, 1013 (21.4%) obesity class I and 659 (13.9%) obesity class II/III. The unadjusted hazard ratio (95% confidence interval) for the primary outcome with obesity class 1, the lowest risk group, as reference was: under/normal-weight 1.41 (1.16-1.71), overweight 1.18 (0.97-1.42), obesity class II/III 1.37 (1.10-1.72). Patients with class I obesity were also at lowest risk of death. The effect of dapagliflozin on the primary outcome and other outcomes did not vary by baseline BMI, e.g. hazard ratio for primary outcome: under/normal-weight 0.74 (0.58-0.94), overweight 0.81 (0.65-1.02), obesity class I 0.68 (0.50-0.92), obesity class II/III 0.71 (0.51-1.00) (P-value for interaction = 0.79). The mean decrease in weight at 8 months with dapagliflozin was 0.9 (0.7-1.1) kg (P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: We confirmed an 'obesity survival paradox' in HFrEF. We showed that dapagliflozin was beneficial across the wide range of BMI studied. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03036124.

2nd Department of Internal Medicine Cardiovascular Medicine General Teaching Hospital 1st Faculty of Medicine Charles University Prague Czech Republic

5th Department of Internal Medicine Comenius University in Bratislava Bratislava Slovakia

BHF Cardiovascular Research Centre University of Glasgow Glasgow UK

Center for Heart Diseases University Hospital Wroclaw Medical University Wroclaw Poland

Department Cardiology Medical University of Lodz Lodz Poland

Department of Cardiology Gentofte University Hospital Copenhagen Copenhagen Denmark

Department of Cardiology Rigshospitalet Copenhagen University Hospital Copenhagen Denmark

Division of Cardiology Instituto Cardiovascular de Buenos Aires Buenos Aires Argentina

Division of Cardiology Taipei Veterans General Hospital Taipei Taiwan

Division of Cardiovascular Medicine Brigham and Women's Hospital Boston MA USA

Institute of Medicine Department of Molecular and Clinical Medicine Cardiology Sahlgrenska Academy University of Gothenburg Gothenburg Sweden

Late Stage Development Cardiovascular Renal and Metabolism BioPharmaceuticals R and D AstraZeneca Gothenburg Sweden

Libin Cardiovascular Institute Cumming School of Medicine University of Calgary Calgary Canada

National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University Taipei Taiwan

Saint Luke's Mid America Heart Institute University of Missouri Kansas City MO USA

Section of Endocrinology Yale School of Medicine New Haven CT USA

The George Institute for Global Health University of New South Wales Sydney Australia

TIMI Study Group Brigham and Women's Hospital Boston MA USA

Universidad Nacional de Córdoba Córdoba Argentina

Eur J Heart Fail. 2021 Oct;23(10):1673-1676. doi: 10.1002/ejhf.2336. PubMed

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ClinicalTrials.gov
NCT03036124