Autoimmune Disease Risk With GLP-1RA, DPP-4i, and SGLT2i Treatment in Patients With Diabetes

Dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors (DPP-4i), glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RA), and sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors (SGLT2i) are widely used for type 2 diabetes, yet their comparative immunologic safety is uncertain. To address this gap, we evaluated autoimmune disease incidence among patients treated with these agents.

We conducted emulated target trials using electronic health record data from 152 health care organizations in the TriNetX network (2016-2023). Adults with type 2 diabetes initiating DPP-4i, GLP-1RA, or SGLT2i monotherapy and no prior autoimmune disease were included. Propensity score matching balanced demographics, comorbidities, laboratory data, and medications. Cohorts comprised 118,419 matched DPP-4i versus GLP-1RA pairs, 102,810 DPP-4i versus SGLT2i pairs, and 105,869 GLP-1RA versus SGLT2i pairs. Primary outcomes included three-year risks of incident autoimmune diseases such as psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, systemic sclerosis, dermatomyositis, and multiple sclerosis.

Compared with GLP-1RA, DPP-4i was associated with lower risk of psoriasis (hazard ratio [HR] 0.79, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.70-0.85), psoriatic arthritis (HR 0.65, 95% CI 0.53-0.79), and autoimmune thyroiditis (HR 0.68, 95% CI 0.59-0.76), but higher risk of dermatomyositis (HR 2.18, 95% CI 1.24-3.53) and bullous pemphigoid (HR 1.78, 95% CI 1.24-2.46).

Compared with GLP-1RA, DPP-4i use decreased psoriasis and thyroiditis risk but increased dermatomyositis, bullous pemphigoid, and giant cell arteritis risk. No significant differences were observed between GLP-1RA and SGLT2i treatments. These findings provide novel safety signals and may inform antidiabetic drug selection while guiding future mechanistic and prospective research.