ASN's Mission

To create a world without kidney diseases, the ASN Alliance for Kidney Health elevates care by educating and informing, driving breakthroughs and innovation, and advocating for policies that create transformative changes in kidney medicine throughout the world.

learn more

Contact ASN

1401 H St, NW, Ste 900, Washington, DC 20005

email@asn-online.org

202-640-4660

The Latest on X

Kidney Week

Please note that you are viewing an archived section from 2023 and some content may be unavailable. To unlock all content for 2023, please visit the archives.

Abstract: SA-PO482

Predictors and Outcomes of Discontinuation of Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 Receptor Agonists (GLP-1 RAs) in CKD

Session Information

Category: Diabetic Kidney Disease

  • 702 Diabetic Kidney Disease: Clinical

Authors

  • Gregg, L Parker, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, United States
  • Richardson, Peter, Michael E DeBakey VA Medical Center, Houston, Texas, United States
  • Nambi, Vijay, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, United States
  • Matheny, Michael Edwin, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, United States
  • Virani, Salim S., The Aga Khan University, Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan
  • Navaneethan, Sankar D., Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, United States
Background

GLP-1 RAs improve cardiovascular and kidney outcomes in patients with CKD but are underutilized. We aimed to study treatment discontinuation and its associations with patient-level characteristics and death among those with CKD.

Methods

Adults with CKD stages 3-4 were identified from the Veterans Affairs (VA) Corporate Data Warehouse from 2005-2022. Individuals who had an incident prescription for a GLP-1 RA were included, with the date of prescription used as the index date for the analysis. The primary outcome was treatment discontinuation, defined as an interruption in GLP-1 RA prescription for at least 90 days. Cox proportional hazards regression identified factors associated with time to treatment discontinuation and the association of treatment discontinuation with time to all-cause death, treating GLP-1 RA discontinuation as a time-varying covariate.

Results

Of 60,020 individuals who received a GLP-1 RA, 95% were male, 75% were White, 20% were Black, 63% were of age ≥70, and 80% had CKD stage 3a. Discontinuation (at least once) occurred in 28,407 (47%) GLP-1 RA users over a median (IQR) of 1.41 (0.72, 2.59) years of follow up. Black or unreported race, younger age, and concomitant vascular disease were associated with GLP-1 RA discontinuation (Figure). There were 9628 deaths. GLP-1 RA discontinuation, included as a time-varying covariate, was associated with all-cause death (HR 2.22 [95% CI 2.11, 2.34], P<0.0001) independent of age, sex, race, CKD stage, medical comorbidities, and concomitant medication use.

Conclusion

In CKD population, discontinuation of GLP-1RA is common and was associated with an increased risk of death. Additional studies exploring the reasons for short-term and long-term discontinuations of these agents are needed.

Funding

  • Other NIH Support