Short-term costs in patients with chronic kidney disease treated with dapagliflozin: a retrospective cohort study

This real-world study evaluated the impact of dapagliflozin on short-term medical costs in patients with stage 3 chronic kidney disease (CKD).

This retrospective, observational cohort study used medical and pharmacy claims data from IQVIA PharMetrics Plus. Patients aged ≥18 years with a filled dapagliflozin prescription after stage 3 CKD diagnosis between September 2020 and December 2021 were 1:1 propensity score matched with patients with stage 3 CKD who did not receive dapagliflozin. The primary endpoint was cardiorenal medical costs to payers over 6 months; all-cause medical and pharmacy costs were also analyzed. Within the overall population, there was a new-user subgroup of patients with no sodium-glucose co-transporter-2 use during baseline.

The new-user subgroup included 503 matched patients per cohort. Mean per-patient cardiorenal medical costs were reduced by 49.0% in the dapagliflozin versus non-dapagliflozin cohort ($3172.15 vs $6219.50; P < 0.001). Mean all-cause medical costs were reduced ($8043.58 vs $12,194.87; P < 0.001) and mean all-cause pharmacy costs were increased ($9056.98 vs $7453.23; P = 0.22). Results were similar for the overall population.

This study showed dapagliflozin was associated with reduced cardiorenal medical costs over 6 months compared with no dapagliflozin treatment in patients with stage 3 CKD, demonstrating real-world medical cost savings.