A Review of Cardiovascular Outcomes Trials of Glucose-Lowering Therapies and Their Effects on Heart Failure Outcomes

Type 2 diabetes mellitus has long been recognized as a major risk factor for adverse atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease events; however, recent data indicate that heart failure is now emerging as the most common and morbid cardiovascular complication of type 2 diabetes mellitus. When heart failure develops in patients with type 2 diabetes, prognosis is ominous, highlighting the need for glucose-lowering therapies that can prevent heart failure, improve outcomes, or both. Prior to 2008, there was a paucity of randomized controlled trials evaluating long-term cardiovascular outcomes with glucose-lowering therapies.