https://doi.org/10.1007/s00392-024-02526-y
1Universitätsklinikum Freiburg Klinik für Kardiologie und Angiologie, Universitäts-Herzzentrum Freiburg, Deutschland; 2Universitätsklinikum Freiburg Institut für Medizinische Biometrie und Statistik Freiburg, Deutschland
Background: Recently, the GLP-1 receptor agonist semaglutide has been shown to enable a decrease of the incidence of cardiovascular events in patients with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) as well as overweight or obesity who do not have diabetes mellitus. It is therefore important to analyse how many inpatients in Germany could be suitable for a possible treatment with semaglutide.
Methods: A random 10% sample of all inpatients in Germany in 2022 has been investigated using electronic health records, which were provided by the Research Data Centre of the German Federal Statistical Office. We focused on the proportions of ASCVD, obesity as well as diabetes mellitus.
Results: Overall, 1,446,420 patients have been analysed. The mean age was 63.2 years. 229,619 had an ASCVD, 92,539 were obese, 247,691 had a type 2 diabetes mellitus. Of those, 15,624 patients suffered from both ASCVD and obesity, 79,516 from ASCVD and type 2 diabetes mellitus, and 28,352 from obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus. While these three diseases were present in 8,368 patients, 7,256 patients suffered from ASCVD and obesity, but not from diabetes mellitus (0.5%). When extrapolating to all inpatients in 2022, that would be around 72,560 patients. Regarding these patients, the mean age was 68.9 years. Among the ASCVD diagnoses were 69.5% coronary artery disease, 22.8% previous myocardial infarction, 9.4% ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke as well as 19.4% peripheral vascular disease. Concerning obesity, there were 59.2% of patients with grade I, 23.5% with grade II, 12.0% with grade III as well as 5.3% with an unspecified level. Furthermore, 67.3% showed an arterial hypertension, 14.8% a hypercholesterolemia, and 26.9% suffered from heart failure NYHA II, III or IV.
Conclusion: Based on our analysis, we saw a not negligible amount of patients with ASCVD as well as obesity but without diabetes mellitus in the inpatient setting in Germany who could be suitable for a possible treatment with semaglutide.
Figure: Proportions of ASCVD, obesity as well as diabetes mellitus