Plain language summary of the EMPEROR-Preserved study looking at the effect of empagliflozin in patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction, with and without diabetes

What is this study about?: The EMPEROR-Preserved study looked at the effects of empagliflozin in participants with heart failure with a preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). This is when the lower left part of the heart (left ventricle) squeezes normally or near normally but does not fill with enough blood between heartbeats. Therefore, not enough blood is pumped around the body. For this study, HFpEF was defined as a condition in which more than 40% of blood in the left ventricle was pumped around the body. When researchers started the EMPEROR-Preserved study, there was no treatment for HFpEF. Also, researchers did not know if empagliflozin was more or less effective in people with and without diabetes, a condition where there are high levels of sugar (glucose) in the blood. This study included participants with HFpEF with and without diabetes to see if empagliflozin had a positive effect on the heart compared with a placebo (a pill that looked like empagliflozin but did not contain any active medication). Nearly 50% of participants had diabetes. The researchers looked at: How many people needed to be hospitalized for heart failure (HF) or died from conditions that affect the heart and blood vessels (cardiovascular disease) If peoples' kidneys worked less over time (the decline in kidney function) The side effects of empagliflozin.

What were the study results?: Empagliflozin reduced the risk of either being hospitalized for HF or dying from cardiovascular disease. The decrease in this risk was due to fewer hospitalizations for HF. This was true regardless of whether or not participants had diabetes. Empagliflozin also slowed the decline in kidney function, regardless of whether the participant had diabetes, but the effect was larger in participants with diabetes. There were no differences in side effects in participants taking empagliflozin or placebo, and the results were similar regardless of whether or not participants had diabetes.

What do these study results mean?: The results showed that treatment with empagliflozin reduced the risk of hospitalization for HF and there were no major side effects in participants with HFpEF, regardless of whether or not they had diabetes.