Sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors and abnormal serum potassium: a real-world, pharmacovigilance study

New trials indicated a potential of sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors (SGLT2i) to reduce hyperkalemia, which might have important clinical implications, but real-world data are limited. Therefore, we examined the effect of SGLT2i on hyper- and hypokalemia occurrence using the FDA adverse event reporting system (FAERS).

The FAERS database was retrospectively queried from 2004q1 to 2021q3. Disproportionality analyses were performed based on the reporting odds ratio (ROR) and 95% confidence interval (CI).

There were 84 601 adverse event reports for SGLT2i and 1 321 186 reports for other glucose-lowering medications. The hyperkalemia reporting incidence was significantly lower with SGLT2i than with other glucose-lowering medications (ROR, 0.83; 95% CI, 0.79-0.86). Reductions in hyperkalemia reports did not change across a series of sensitivity analyses. Compared with that with renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system inhibitors (RAASi) alone (ROR, 4.40; 95% CI, 4.31-4.49), the hyperkalemia reporting incidence was disproportionally lower among individuals using RAASi with SGLT2i (ROR, 3.25; 95% CI, 3.06-3.45). Compared with that with mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists (MRAs) alone, the hyperkalemia reporting incidence was also slightly lower among individuals using MRAs with SGLT-2i. The reporting incidence of hypokalemia was lower with SGLT2i than with other antihyperglycemic agents (ROR, 0.79; 95% CI, 0.75-0.83).

In a real-world setting, hyperkalemia and hypokalemia were robustly and consistently reported less frequently with SGLT2i than with other diabetes medications. There were disproportionally fewer hyperkalemia reports among those using SGLT-2is with RAASi or MRAs than among those using RAASi or MRAs alone.