Clinical Profile and Treatment Patterns in Individuals with Type 2 Diabetes and Chronic Kidney Disease Who Initiate a GLP-1 Receptor Agonist: A Multinational Cohort Study

Introduction: Novel therapies are emerging for the prevention of chronic kidney disease (CKD) progression in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D). Within the FOUNTAIN platform (NCT05526157; EUPAS48148), this real-world study aimed to characterize cohorts of adults with CKD and T2D starting therapy with a glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist (GLP-1 RA) in Europe, Japan, and the United States (US) during 2012–2021. Methods: This multinational, multicohort study was conducted in five data sources: the Danish National Health Registers (DNHR) (Denmark), PHARMO Data Network (PHARMO) (The Netherlands), Valencia Health System Integrated Database (VID) (Spain), Japan Chronic Kidney Disease Database Extension (J-CKD-DB-Ex) (Japan), and Optum’s de-identified Clinformatics® Data Mart Database (CDM) (US). Eligible patients had T2D (defined by data source-specific algorithms) and CKD (based on diagnosis codes, estimated glomerular filtration rate values, and/or urine albumin-to-creatinine ratio) and initiated an GLP-1 RA during 2012–2021. Baseline demographic, lifestyle, and clinical characteristics were analyzed, and treatment patterns were described. Results: Study cohorts included 18,929 GLP-1 RA initiators in DNHR; 476 in PHARMO; 11,798 in VID; 329 in J-CKD-DB-Ex; and 70,158 in CDM. Across cohorts, mean age ranged from 66.1 years in J-CKD-DB-Ex to 67.9 years in CDM, and between 46.6% (PHARMO) and 59.6% (J-CKD-DB-Ex) of patients were men. There was a steady increase in GLP-1 RA initiators from 2012 (when 1.6–4.8% of GLP-1 RA initiators started therapy) to 2019 (when 19.8–31.5% started therapy). The median duration of initial treatment with a GLP-1 RA ranged from 2.3 months (PHARMO) to 12.4 months (VID). At 1-year follow-up, between 52% (CDM) and 78% (DNHR) of patients were receiving treatment. Findings suggested that GLP-1 RA use was independent of CKD severity. Conclusions: During 2012–2021, GLP-1 RA use steadily increased across multinational cohorts of patients with T2D and CKD, and persistence with treatment was high. GLP-1 use was independent of CKD severity.