Clinical studies of dapagliflozin in pediatric patients: a rapid review

The oral sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitor, dapagliflozin, is used to treat kidney disease, heart failure, and diabetes in adults, but has not been well studied in pediatrics, and does not have a recognized place in therapy in current practice guidelines. The purpose of this review is to summarize studies that have investigated the efficacy of dapagliflozin in pediatric patients. A systematic review was performed to identify clinical studies of oral dapagliflozin in children 0 to 17 years. Studies were identified through searches of Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed, Google Scholar, Embase, clinical trial registries, research registries, and key journals through August 2022. The Cochrane scoring system was used to assess the methodological quality of the included randomized trials. Five studies were reviewed and included in this analysis. Dapagliflozin at a dose of 5 to 10 mg was utilized in adolescents and young adults with heart failure, chronic kidney disease with proteinuria, type 1 diabetes, or type 2 diabetes. Studies evaluating dapagliflozin in type 1 diabetes evaluated single doses while the other studies monitored long-term use. Dapagliflozin was overall considered to be safe and effective in the studies included in this review, but further studies in larger populations and over extended periods of time are necessary.