Diabetic patients with and without sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors use and cataract risk: real-world observational investigation

Purpose We tried to define the association of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients with and without sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors (SGLT2I) use and incident cataract using nationwide data in Taiwan. Methods In a Cox proportional hazards regression model, we estimated the hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI). We considered risk factors for variables of sex, age, comorbidities and medications that we adjusted in multivariable Cox model. Results We identified 20,768 T2DM patients in this study; 10,384 patients in the SGLT2I cohort, and 10,384 controls in the non-SGLT2I cohort. Compared with the T2DM patients without SGLT2I, T2DM patients using SGLT2I had a 2.04-fold increased risk of cataract, after adjustment by sex, age, comorbidities and medications. Conclusion Increased risk of cataract among diabetic patients who took SGLT2I was found in this study.