[Cardiovascular aspects of diabetes treatment : Finally a reason for cardiologists to be pleased]

Cardiovascular disease significantly determines morbidity and mortality in patients with diabetes mellitus type 2. Large clinical trials in the past left controversial evidence about the effect of blood glucose-lowering treatments on cardiovascular outcomes. In 2008, the regulatory authorities defined new requirements on cardiovascular safety data for the approval of new drugs for the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Since then, numerous large safety studies have been initiated to prove cardiovascular noninferiority of new antidiabetic drugs. Preliminary data from these safety studies have become available and provided promising results. While treatment with DPP-4 inhibitors and the short acting GLP-1 receptor agonist lixisenatide were shown to be safe, treatment with the SGLT-2 inhibitor empagliflozin and the long-acting GLP-1 receptor agonist liraglutide even significantly improved cardiovascular outcomes in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. With the evidence of cardiovascular benefits of the new drugs, new treatment strategies for patients with diabetes mellitus type 2 are expected.