Researchers found that adults with type 2 diabetes who initiated sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 (SGLT-2) inhibitors had an 11% lower risk of developing autoimmune rheumatic diseases compared with those taking sulfonylureas. Using South Korea’s National Health Insurance Service database, researchers analyzed more than two million adults between 2012 and 2022, applying inverse probability treatment weighting to balance confounders. The incidence rate per 100,000 person-years was 51.9 among SGLT-2 inhibitor users and 58.4 among sulfonylurea users (hazard ratio, 0.89), with the greatest reduction seen in inflammatory arthritis (HR, 0.86). The association remained consistent across subgroups and sensitivity analyses, suggesting a modest but significant immunomodulatory effect of SGLT-2 inhibitors beyond glycemic control.

Source: The BMJ