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Kidney Compass: SMART-C at ASN Kidney Week 2025
Welcome to Kidney Compass: Navigating Clinical Trials!
In this special edition episode of Kidney Compass: Navigating Clinical Trials, Brendon Neuen, MBBS, PhD, doubles as a host and special guest as he offers host Shikha Wadhwani, MD, MS, a deep dive into the latest data from the the SGLT2 Inhibitor Meta-Analysis Cardio-Renal Trialists’ Consortium (SMART-C) at the American Society of Nephrology (ASN) Kidney Week 2025.
Published in JAMA, the large-scale meta-analyses provide comprehensive evidence that sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors consistently reduce the risk of chronic kidney disease (CKD) progression, kidney failure, and related adverse outcomes across all levels of kidney function and albuminuria, regardless of diabetes status.
In the first analysis, the SMART-C team evaluated 70,361 participants from 10 randomized, placebo-controlled trials of SGLT2 inhibitors. Participants had a mean (SD) age of 64.8 (SD, 8.7) years, and 35.0% were female. During a median follow-up of 3 years, 2314 participants (3.3%) experienced CKD progression and 988 (1.4%) reached kidney failure.
SGLT2 inhibitors reduced the risk of CKD progression by 38% (25.4 vs 40.3 events per 1000 patient-years; hazard ratio [HR], 0.62 [95% CI, 0.57–0.68]), with consistent efficacy across eGFR categories:
- ≥60 mL/min/1.73 m²: HR, 0.61 (95% CI, 0.52–0.71)
- 45 to <60 mL/min/1.73 m²: HR, 0.57 (95% CI, 0.47–0.70)
- 30 to <45 mL/min/1.73 m²: HR, 0.64 (95% CI, 0.54–0.75)
- <30 mL/min/1.73 m²: HR, 0.71 (95% CI, 0.60–0.83); P for trend = .16
Similar protection was observed across urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio (UACR) levels, with HRs of 0.58 (95% CI, 0.44–0.76) for ≤30 mg/g, 0.74 (95% CI, 0.57–0.96) for 30–300 mg/g, and 0.57 (95% CI, 0.52–0.64) for >300 mg/g (P for trend = .49). SGLT2 inhibitors also attenuated annual eGFR decline across all subgroups, including those without diabetes.
A complementary meta-analysis of 58,816 participants, including 48,946 with diabetes and 9870 without diabetes, across 8 clinical trials confirmed the broad efficacy and safety of SGLT2 inhibitors. Treatment significantly reduced kidney disease progression (HR, 0.65 [95% CI, 0.60–0.70] in diabetes; HR, 0.74 [95% CI, 0.63–0.85] without diabetes), acute kidney injury (HR, 0.77 [95% CI, 0.69–0.87] and HR, 0.72 [95% CI, 0.56–0.92]), all-cause hospitalization (HR, 0.90 [95% CI, 0.87–0.92] and HR, 0.89 [95% CI, 0.83–0.95]), and all-cause death (HR, 0.86 [95% CI, 0.80–0.91] and HR, 0.91 [95% CI, 0.78–1.05]).
The magnitude of benefit was consistent across albuminuria strata (UACR ≥ 200 mg/g vs <200 mg/g), although absolute risk reductions were greater in those with higher baseline albuminuria.
Relevant disclosures for Neuen include AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Janssen, and others. Relevant disclosures for Wadhwani include Boehringer Ingelheim, Calliditas Therapeutics, GSK, Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Travere Therapeutics, and others.
