BMJ openDec 25, 2025

Health features and results for people with type 2 diabetes and kidney disease starting new treatments in China

GLP-1 Therapies Weekly Brief ↗PubMed ↗DOI ↗

Updated Jan 20, 2026

Abstract

A total of 5,756 patients with type 2 diabetes and chronic kidney disease were included in the analysis of real-world outcomes following treatment initiation.

Mean ages for patients initiating sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors (SGLT2i) and glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RA) were 59 and 56 years, respectively.
Both treatment cohorts exhibited similar disease durations, with a mean of 5 years for type 2 diabetes and 3 years for chronic kidney disease.
At baseline, 54.4% of patients in the SGLT2i cohort and 56.9% in the GLP-1 RA cohort had hemoglobin A1c levels exceeding 7%.
Approximately 50.5% of the SGLT2i cohort and 54.1% of the GLP-1 RA cohort were classified as chronic kidney disease stage 1.
During follow-up, a higher number of specialist visits compared to general practitioner visits were observed in both cohorts.
Incidence rates of kidney failure were 3.1 per 100 person-years for the SGLT2i cohort and 4.9 per 100 person-years for the GLP-1 RA cohort.

Simplified

OBJECTIVES: Given the rapidly evolving therapeutic landscape for type 2 diabetes (T2D) and chronic kidney disease (CKD), this study aimed to characterise the clinical profiles and real-world outcomes of patients with T2D and CKD in China who initiated sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors (SGLT2i) or glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RA).

DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study.

SETTING: Demographic and clinical data of patients from a regional electronic health records database in Tianjin, China between 2012 and 2019 were used.

PARTICIPANTS: Adult patients diagnosed with T2D and CKD who initiated SGLT2i or GLP-1 RA from 2012 to 2019.

PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: Baseline demographic and disease characteristics, comorbidities and comedications, healthcare resource utilisation (HRU), and clinical outcomes were assessed using descriptive statistics.

RESULTS: A total of 935 and 4821 patients were included in SGLT2i and GLP-1 RA cohorts, with the mean ages of 59 and 56 years, respectively. Both cohorts had similar durations of T2D (mean: 5 years) and CKD (mean: 3 years). In SGLT2i and GLP-1 RA cohorts, 54.4% and 56.9% of patients had hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) >7%, and 50.5% and 54.1% were classified as CKD stage 1 at baseline. During the follow-up period (median 1.4 months for SGLT2i cohort and median 2.3 months for GLP-1 RA cohort), higher numbers of specialist visits compared with general practitioner visits were observed numerically for both cohorts. The incidence rates (95% CI) of kidney failure per 100 person-years were 3.1 (1.0, 7.3) for SGLT2i cohort, and 4.9 (3.9, 6.0) for GLP-1 RA cohort during follow-up.

CONCLUSIONS: This study provides descriptive evidence regarding the clinical characteristics and outcomes of patients with T2D and CKD who initiated SGLT2i or GLP-1 RA in China. The results are important for understanding the existing HRU and residual risk of severe clinical outcomes in such patient populations. The findings also provide a solid foundation for future research aimed at examining the clinical outcomes of new therapeutic options for T2D and CKD.

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Funding

Competing interests

Competing interests: FL, AEF and NGO are employees of Bayer AG, the study funder. FL, AEF and NGO contributed to the study design, data interpretation, manuscript review and the decision to submit the paper for publication. The funder didn’t influence the results/outcomes of the study. ZX and YL are employees of Bayer Healthcare Company Ltd. HW is an employee of IQVIA Ltd. LC received research funding from AstraZeneca and Eli Lilly. Other authors declare no competing interests.

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Health features and results for people with type 2 diabetes and kidney disease starting new treatments in China

Abstract

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