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Aims: Reflecting both increased venous pressure and reduced cardiac output, abnormal liver tests are common in patients with severe heart failure and are associated with adverse clinical outcomes. We aimed to investigate the prognostic significance of abnormal liver tests in ambulatory patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF), explore any treatment interaction between bilirubin and sodium–glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors and examine change in liver tests with SGLT2 inhibitor treatment. Methods and results: We explored these objectives in the Dapagliflozin And Prevention of Adverse outcomes in Heart Failure (DAPA-HF) trial, with focus on bilirubin. We calculated the incidence of cardiovascular death or worsening heart failure by bilirubin tertile. Secondary cardiovascular outcomes were examined, along with the change in liver tests at the end-of-study visit. Baseline bilirubin was available in 4720 patients (99.5%). Participants in the highest bilirubin tertile (T3) have more severe HFrEF (lower left ventricular ejection fraction, higher N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide [NT-proBNP] and worse New York Heart Association class), had a greater burden of atrial fibrillation but less diabetes. Higher bilirubin (T3 vs. T1) was associated with worse outcomes even after adjustment for other predictive variables, including NT-proBNP and troponin T (adjusted hazard ratio for the primary outcome 1.73 [95% confidence interval 1.37–2.17], p < 0.001; and 1.52 [1.12–2.07], p = 0.01 for cardiovascular death). Baseline bilirubin did not modify the benefits of dapagliflozin. During follow-up, dapagliflozin had no effect on liver tests. Conclusion: Bilirubin concentration was an independent predictor of worse outcomes but did not modify the benefits of dapagliflozin in HFrEF. Dapagliflozin was not associated with change in liver tests. Clinical Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03036124.

Objective The SGLT2 inhibitor dapagliflozin reduced the risk of cardiovascular mortality and worsening heart failure in the Dapagliflozin and Prevention of Adverse-Outcomes in Heart Failure trial (DAPA-HF). This report explores the effect of dapagliflozin on incident type 2 diabetes in the non-diabetic cohort enrolled in the trial. Research Design/Methods The subgroup of 2605 patients with heart failure and reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF), no prior history of diabetes, and a HbA1c of Results At baseline, the mean HbA1c was 5.8%. At 8 months, there were minimal changes, with a placebo-adjusted change in the dapagliflozin group of -0.04%. Over a median follow-up of 18 months, diabetes developed in 93/1307 patients (7.1%) in the placebo group and 64/1298 (4.9%) in the dapagliflozin group. Dapagliflozin led to a 32% reduction in diabetes incidence (HR 0.68, 95% CI, 0.50-0.94; p=0.019.) More than 95% of the participants who developed type 2 diabetes had prediabetes at baseline (HbA1c 5.7-6.4%.) Participants who developed diabetes in DAPA-HF had a higher subsequent mortality than those who did not. Conclusions In this exploratory analysis among patients with HFrEF, treatment with dapagliflozin reduced the incidence of new diabetes. This potential benefit needs confirmation in trials of longer duration and in people without heart failure.