Trial reportClinical research in cardiology : official journal of the German Cardiac Society2023
The SGLT2 inhibitor empagliflozin reduces tissue sodium content in patients with chronic heart failure: results from a placebo-controlled randomised trial.
Trial report in Clinical research in cardiology : official journal of the German Cardiac Society, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It reports registered trial NCT03128528. Cited by 20 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Randomized, Double-blind, Placebo Controlled, Parallel-group, Prospective Clinical Study to Analyse the Effect of Empagliflozin on Reduction of Tissue Sodium Content in Patients With Chronic Heart Failure
Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 57 citations in OpenAlex.
- Glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors on mortality and hospitalization in heart failure patients: a comprehensive meta-analysis.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2026Pooled it
- Role of dietary sodium restriction in chronic heart failure: systematic review and meta-analysis.Clinical research in cardiology : official journal of the German Cardiac Society · 2024Pooled it
- Short- and mid-term effects of empagliflozin on sodium balance and fluid regulation in chronic heart failure.European journal of heart failure · 2025Trial
- Is GFR decline induced by SGLT2 inhibitor of clinical importance?Cardiovascular diabetology · 2024Trial
- SGLT2 inhibitors preserve serum chloride in non-diabetic CKD: a propensity-matched and LASSO regression analysis.Renal failure · 2026Article
- Salt and chronic kidney disease.Nature reviews. Nephrology · 2026Review
- Caution in extending SGLT2 inhibitor trials to children with CAKUT: a call for phenotype-specific safety considerations.Pediatric nephrology (Berlin, Germany) · 2026Article
- Current understanding of sodium-glucose transporter 2 inhibitors in cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic syndrome.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2026Review
- Urinary markers in heart failure - types, timing and thresholds. European Journal of Heart Failure expert consensus document.European journal of heart failure · 2025Review
- Sodium-Glucose Cotransporter 2 Inhibitors for Mesenchymal-Epithelial Transition Inhibitor-Induced Edema.Thoracic cancer · 2025Article
- Representation of women and racial minorities in SGLT2 inhibitors and heart failure clinical trials.International journal of cardiology. Heart & vasculature · 2024Article
- Targeting Sodium in Heart Failure.Journal of personalized medicine · 2024Review
- Proximal versus distal diuretics in congestive heart failure.Nephrology, dialysis, transplantation : official publication of the European Dialysis and Transplant Association - European Renal Association · 2024Review
- Sodium quantification in skeletal muscle: comparison between Cartesian gradient-echo and radial ultra-short echo timeEuropean radiology experimental · 2024Article
- Mechanisms of Myocardial Edema Development in CVD Pathophysiology.Biomedicines · 2024Review
- Skin sodium content as a predictor of blood pressure response to renal denervation.Hypertension research : official journal of the Japanese Society of Hypertension · 2024Article
- Lack of durable natriuresis and objective decongestion following SGLT2 inhibition in randomized controlled trials of patients with heart failure.Cardiovascular diabetology · 2023Review
- Critical Analysis of the Effects of SGLT2 Inhibitors on Renal Tubular Sodium, Water and Chloride Homeostasis and Their Role in Influencing Heart Failure Outcomes.Circulation · 2023Review
- Don't sweat the small stuff: skin mechanisms of sodium homeostasis and associations with long-term blood pressure.Clinical science (London, England : 1979) · 2023Article
- Skin microcirculation and hypertension: is there a connection?Jornal brasileiro de nefrologiaReview
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
13 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionSodium-glucose co-transporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors have cardiovascular protective properties in addition to the metabolic effects and represent a cornerstone of treating patients with chronic heart failure (CHF). We hypothesised that empagliflozin reduces tissue sodium content in patients with CHF.
methodsIn a double-blind, randomised (2:1), placebo-controlled, parallel-group, clinical trial, 74 patients with NYHA class II-III CHF and an ejection fraction of 49% or less received empagliflozin 10 mg once daily or placebo for 3 months. In each patient, tissue sodium content of the lower leg was assessed non-invasively by sodium-MRI (
resultsAfter 1 and 3 months treatment with empagliflozin (n = 48), a significant decrease in skin sodium content was observed (1 month: 22.8 ± 6.1 vs. 21.6 ± 6.0 AU, p = 0.039; 3 months: 22.9 ± 6.1 vs. 21.6 ± 6.1 AU, p = 0.013), while there was no change in muscle sodium and muscle water content. In direct comparison, the change in skin sodium content between baseline and 3 months was - 1.3 ± 3.5 AU in the empagliflozin group versus 0.6 ± 3.5 AU in the placebo group (p for between-group difference = 0.022). No significant difference regarding change in muscle sodium and in muscle water content was observed after 3 months treatment between the two groups.
conclusionThis trial showed a significant decrease in skin sodium content after 1 and 3 months of treatment with empagliflozin. The decrease in skin sodium content may reflect a decrease in subclinical micro-oedema or/and in non-osmotic bound tissue sodium, both reported to impair left ventricular function. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT03128528 ( http://www. CLINICALTRIALS: gov ). TRIAL REGISTRATION DATE: 25th April 2017.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.