Short-term Changes in Hemoglobin and Changes in Functional Status, Quality of Life and Natriuretic Peptides After Initiation of Dapagliflozin in Heart Failure With Reduced Ejection Fraction.

• In this subanalysis of the DAPA-VO2 randomized clinical trial, dapagliflozin lead to a significant short-term increases in hemoglobin levels. • Short-term hemoglobin changes were associated with the magnitude of between-treatment differences (dapagliflozin vs placebo) in maximal functional capacity, quality of life and natriuretic peptides. • The magnitude of hemoglobin increase emerges as a simple and widely available parameter for monitoring SGLT2i responses. We aimed to evaluate the effect of dapagliflozin on short-term changes in hemoglobin in patients with stable heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) and whether these changes mediated the effect of dapagliflozin on functional capacity, quality of life and NT-proBNP levels. This is an exploratory analysis of a randomized, double-blinded clinical trial in which 90 stable patients with HFrEF were randomly allocated to dapagliflozin or placebo to evaluate short-term changes in peak oxygen consumption (peak VO 2) (NCT04197635). This substudy evaluated 1- and 3-month changes in hemoglobin levels and whether these changes mediated the effects of dapagliflozin on peak VO 2 , Minnesota Living-With-Heart-Failure test (MLHFQ) and NT-proBNP levels. At baseline, mean hemoglobin levels were 14.3 ± 1.7 g/dL. Hemoglobin levels significantly increased in those taking dapagliflozin (1 month: + 0.45 g/dL (P = 0.037) and 3 months:+ 0.55 g/dL (P = 0.012)]. Changes in hemoglobin levels positively mediated the changes in peak VO 2 at 3 months (59.5%; P < 0.001). Changes in hemoglobin levels significantly mediated the effect of dapagliflozin in the MLHFQ at 3 months (-53.2% and -48.7%; P = 0.017) and NT-proBNP levels at 1 and 3 months (-68.0%; P = 0.048 and -62.7%; P = 0.029, respectively). In patients with stable HFrEF, dapagliflozin caused a short-term increase in hemoglobin levels, identifying patients with greater improvements in maximal functional capacity, quality of life and reduction of NT-proBNP levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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