Why carry out this study?

In our previous randomized control study on Japanese patients with type 2 diabetes being treated with sitagliptin, we found that the mean percentage reduction in the visceral fat area was significantly greater in the ipragliflozin group than in the metformin group.

Although it is known that elderly patients are at a higher risk for sarcopenia and osteoporosis than non-elderly patients, information regarding the effects of sodium-glucose transporter 2 inhibitors on elderly patients remains inadequate.

We conducted a sub-analysis of our previous randomized control study to evaluate whether the sodium-glucose transporter 2 inhibitor ipragliflozin and metformin reduce visceral fat and control glucose in elderly patients with T2D and how these treatments affect muscle mass and bone density.

What was learned from the study?

Ipragliflozin significantly reduced the visceral fat area compared with metformin when added to sitagliptin in elderly patients with type 2 diabetes.

Ipragliflozin significantly reduced the uric acid concentration compared with metformin when added to sitagliptin in elderly patients with type 2 diabetes.

Long-term and large-scale studies are required to elucidate whether ipragliflozin is suitable for elderly patients.