Are the antidiabetic SGLT2 inhibitors a cardiovascular treatment?

The sodium-glucose co-transporter 2 inhibitors (SGLT2i) were first conceived to treat type 2 diabetes due to their hypoglycaemic effect. However, due to an increasing number of studies, SGLT2i are changing the way we treat, and understand, diabetes, and cardiovascular risk, in general. The EMPA-REG OUTCOME clinical trial, in 2015, showed for the first time that empagliflozine - a glucose lowering agent - lowers the risk of death from cardiovascular causes and death from any cause. Also, this SGLT2i lowered hospital admission for heart failure and delayed renal function worsening. From then on, other clinical trials with SGLT2i such as CANVAS (canagliflozin) and DECLARE-TIMI-58 (dapagliflozin) confirmed these positive effects. With a proven and non-related glucose-lowering effect on heart failure, overall death, cardiovascular death, and renal function, SGLT2i stands out among the rest of anti-diabetic drugs. Since its role in treating patients with heart failure and type 2 diabetes has been undoubtedly established, new studies are paving the way for non-diabetic patients as well. A potential paradigm shift is being witnessed and, probably, the dawn of a new field, cardio-endocrinology, which involves new and far-reaching pharmacological agents.