Introduction: Lifetime diabetes risk is greater in women than in men. Women with diabetes mellitus (DM) have a greater prevalence of diabetic kidney disease (DKD) risk factors. The diagnosis of DM is often delayed in women, with poorer outcomes and with expected therapeutic goals missed.
Area covered: A systematic literature review following PRISMA guidelines was conducted in the PubMed gateway of the MEDLINE database and Clinicaltrials.gov. The purpose of our research was to establish the sex differences on renal outcomes in users of the new hypoglycemic drugs: sodium-glucose transport protein 2 inhibitors (SGLT-2i), dipeptidyl peptidase-IV Inhibitors (DPP-IVi) and glucagon-like peptide-1 inhibitors (GLP-1i).
Expert opinion: New hypoglycemic drugs represent promising tools in the treatment and prevention of severe complications of diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and chronic kidney disease. Even if renal outcomes are investigated in both randomized controlled trials and cardiovascular outcome trials, gender-based analysis is not always performed. Our systematic review demonstrated that the gap among sexes in DKD can be partially filled using new hypoglycemic drugs. Sexual dimorphism analysis could represent a keystone for the development of adequate gender-specific therapies.
Keywords: DPP-IVi; Diabetic kidney disease; GLP-1I; SGLT2i; chronic kidney disease; diabetic kidney disease; gender differences; new hypoglycemic drugs; sex-based analysis.