Outcomes of oral antidiabetic drugs in metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease: a nationwide target trial emulation study

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Patients with concurrent type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) face elevated cardiovascular risks. However, optimal oral antidiabetic drug (OAD) selection for this population remains unclear. METHODS: Using the Korean National Health Information Database, we conducted a target trial emulation comparing cardiovascular outcomes among patients with T2DM and MASLD (defined by fatty liver index ≥30) who initiated sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors, thiazolidinediones, dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitors, or sulfonylureas with metformin. The primary outcome was major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE), including cardiovascular mortality, nonfatal myocardial infarction, and nonfatal stroke. RESULTS: Among 71,071 patients (331,726 person-years), SGLT2 inhibitor users experienced a significantly lower MACE risk compared to sulfonylurea users (adjusted subdistribution hazard ratio [aSHR], 0.44; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.31-0.62). SGLT2 inhibitors also demonstrated a lower MACE risk compared to thiazolidinediones (aSHR, 0.61; 95% CI, 0.39-0.96) and DPP-4 inhibitors (aSHR, 0.59; 95% CI, 0.42-0.83). Cardiovascular mortality risk was notably reduced with SGLT2 inhibitors compared to sulfonylureas (aSHR, 0.13; 95% CI, 0.03-0.50), thiazolidinediones (aSHR, 0.19; 95% CI, 0.04-0.86), and DPP-4 inhibitors (aSHR, 0.22; 95% CI, 0.06-0.84). Mediation analysis revealed that MASLD regression accounted for 8.7% of the total cardiovascular benefit when comparing SGLT2 inhibitors to sulfonylureas. CONCLUSIONS: In patients with concurrent T2DM and MASLD, SGLT2 inhibitors demonstrated better cardiovascular outcomes compared to other OADs. These findings suggest that SGLT2 inhibitors may be the preferred OAD choice for cardiovascular risk reduction in this high-risk population.