ClinicalTrials.gg
CompletedNCT04461041EMPA-HEART 2Updated Feb 17, 2023

Empagliflozin and Cardiac Remodelling in People Without Diabetes

A Phase 4 interventional study of Empagliflozin and Placebo in Cardiovascular Diseases and Left Ventricular Hypertrophy, sponsored by Unity Health Toronto. Completed at 4 sites in 2 countries. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 85 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2023-02-17.

Primary conditionHypertrophy, Left VentricularRegistry: Cardiovascular DiseasesReclassifiedWhy we changed it
Registry
Cardiovascular Diseases — the first condition term the registry derived for this study.
ClinicalTrials.gg
Hypertrophy, Left Ventricular
Why
  1. The study's listed conditions name Hypertrophy, Left Ventricular, a narrower term within Cardiovascular Diseases.
Confidence
High: the new condition is named in the study's own listed conditions. Of 351 hand-checked studies reclassified this way, 68% were exactly right and 84% in the right disease family; the registry's first term was right for 5% (measured 2026-10-21). How we classify →
Wrong?
Tell us the study's main condition →

Sponsored by Unity Health Toronto · Phase 4, Interventional, and Treatment

Phase
Phase 4
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
169
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
18 Years to 85 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects of empagliflozin on cardiac structure, function and circulating biomarkers in patients with cardiovascular risk factors, but without diabetes. Empagliflozin is an antihyperglycemic agent approved by Health Canada and the FDA for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. Previous post-marketing clinical trials demonstrated a reduction in cardiovascular deaths and heart failure in patients with type 2 diabetes treated with empagliflozin. In the first EMPA-HEART trial, we demonstrated that empagliflozin reduces cardiac mass in patients with type 2 diabetes, as seen through cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (cMRI). Therefore, the aim of this study, EMPA-HEART 2, is to determine whether empagliflozin can similarly impact cardiac structure in patients without diabetes, but with various cardiovascular risk factors.

Read the detailed description

Sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors (empagliflozin, canagliflozin and dapagliflozin) are approved medications to improve glycemic control in adult patients with type 2 diabetes. When added to current standard-of-care diabetes treatment, SGLT2 inhibitors are associated with clinically meaningful reductions in major adverse cardiovascular events, reduced rates of hospitalization for heart failure and a decrease in major adverse kidney outcomes. Importantly, these benefits were observed consistently in people with and without type 2 diabetes and across all levels of baseline glycemic control. These data point towards a glucose-independent, cardioprotective effect of SGLT2 inhibition. How SGLT2 inhibition might reduce cardiac outcomes in people without diabetes remains unclear, and this is the specific objective of EMPA-HEART 2.

The study drug, empagliflozin (marketed as Jardiance), belongs to a class of medications that lowers blood glucose (sugar) by preventing glucose from entering back into blood circulation and ensures it is eliminated in urine. Empagliflozin is approved by the FDA and Health Canada for the treatment of type 2 diabetes.

This is a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, parallel-group study of empagliflozin vs. placebo in patients without diabetes but with various cardiovascular risk factors. The purpose is to determine the effects of empagliflozin on cardiac structure by using cMRI. Patients who have given informed consent will undergo a baseline cMRI and will then be randomly assigned in a 1:1 basis to either empagliflozin 10 mg once daily or matching placebo. An end of study cMRI will be performed at 26 weeks (6 months after starting the study drug).

The study subjects will be followed for 6 months. The patients will be assessed using cMRI, which is considered the "gold standard" for measuring left ventricular (LV) volume, mass, and ejection fraction. The investigators will assess changes from baseline in LV mass, LV end-diastolic volume, end-systolic volume, LV ejection fraction, LV diastolic and systolic function, and LV wall stress via cMRI in enrolled patients treated with empagliflozin compared to those who receive placebo. Additionally, changes from baseline in blood pressure, hematocrit, and biomarkers involved in the pathophysiology of heart failure, namely NT-proBNP, will be evaluated at 6 months.

Study assessments and potential adverse events reporting will be undertaken at each study visit.

02

Conditions studied

  • Cardiovascular Diseases
  • Left Ventricular Hypertrophy

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Keywords

  • Cardiovascular disease
  • Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Imaging
  • Sodium-Glucose Transporter 2 Inhibitors
03

In context

Hypertrophy, Left Ventricular Reclassified

162 studies on the registry are indexed under Hypertrophy, Left Ventricular; 28 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 169 is above the median of 100 across 97 interventional studies indexed under Hypertrophy, Left Ventricular.

Browse Hypertrophy, Left Ventricular studies →

Lead sponsor

Unity Health Toronto is the lead sponsor of 447 studies on the registry; 82 are open to participants now.

Of its 5 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 1 (20%) have results posted.

Compared within Hypertrophy, Left Ventricular, this study's primary condition as ClinicalTrials.gg classifies it; the registry's first condition term is Cardiovascular Diseases. The counts are of registry records indexed under each term, refreshed daily. How we classify →

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years to 85 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

  1. Female Not of and male subjects ≥ 18 and ≤ 85 years of age (Women Not of childbearing potential are females who are permanently sterile or . Postmenopausal is defined as 12 consecutive months with no menses without an alternative medical cause or ≥6 weeks post-surgical bilateral oophorectomy prior to Screening.)
  2. ≥1 of the major criteria or ≥2 of the minor criteria below:

    Major criteria

    • Increased LVMi of ≥96 g/m2 for women and ≥116 g/m2 for men (as calculated by echocardiogram); or LVMi ≥81 g/m2 for women and ≥85 g/m2 for men (as calculated by cMRI)
    • evidence of LV hypertrophy (as per the Sokolow-Lyon criteria)
    • Structural heart disease defined as interventricular septal thickness or posterior wall thickness at end-diastole of ≥11 mm (as measured by 2D echocardiography or cMRI)
    • Persistent hypertension (defined as office blood pressure ≥140/90 mmHg) despite being on ≥3 antihypertensive medications

    Minor criteria

    • Prior history of a myocardial infarction (≥3 months ago)
    • ≥30 and ≤60 mL/min/1.73 m2 (as measured by the CKD-EPI formula)
    • (BMI) ≥27 kg/m2
  3. Willing and able to comply with scheduled visits, treatment plan, laboratory tests, and other trial procedures

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. Female subjects who are pregnant, lactating or of , or are pre-menopausal
  2. Known type 1 or type 2 diabetes
  3. (A1C) ≥6.5%
  4. \<30 mL/min/1.73m2
  5. Known history of severe liver disease (e.g. Class B or C)
  6. Known history of severe symptomatic untreated anemia in the last 3 months (e.g. \< 90 g/L)
  7. History of ketoacidosis, or increased chance of developing diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) e.g. patients who suffer from excessive vomiting, diarrhea, or sweating; subjects who are on a very low carbohydrate diet; or subjects who drink a lot of alcohol.
  8. Systolic blood pressure \<95mmHg (as measured at the office/clinic visit)
  9. Subjects in whom coronary revascularization by either percutaneous coronary intervention or bypass surgery is being contemplated within the next 6 months, or who have undergone coronary revascularization in the prior 3 months
  10. Significant allergy or known intolerance to SGLT2is or any ingredient in the formulations
  11. Subjects currently experiencing any or unstable medical condition that in the opinion of the investigator might limit their ability to complete the study, or to comply with the requirements of the protocol, including: dermatologic disease, hematological disease, pulmonary disease, hepatic disease, gastrointestinal disease, genitourinary disease, endocrine disease, neurological disease, and psychiatric disease
  12. Any not considered cured (except basal cell carcinoma of the skin). A subject is considered cured if there has been no evidence of cancer recurrence for the 5 years prior to screening
  13. Subjects who have participated in other interventional studies which may affect any of the primary or secondary outcomes of the study within 30 days of the screening visit
  14. or inability to undergo magnetic resonance imaging such as severe obesity (e.g. weight >500 lbs) or the presence of metallic fragments, clips, or devices
  15. Known history of infiltrative cardiomyopathy such as cardiac amyloidosis or cardiac sarcoidosis
  16. Severe aortic stenosis
  17. Severe aortic regurgitation
  18. Severe mitral stenosis
  19. Severe mitral regurgitation
  20. Low voltage on limb leads defined by the amplitude of the QRS complex in each limb lead ≤0.5 mV
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(11)

Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.

Childbearing potential

Able to become pregnant: from the first period until menopause, unless permanently unable to through surgery (removal of the womb, or of both ovaries or both fallopian tubes).

Criteria for people of childbearing potential usually ask for a negative pregnancy test and for contraception during the study and for a time after it.

Postmenopausal

Periods have stopped for good: usually no period for 12 months in a row without another medical reason, sometimes confirmed by a blood test (FSH).

ECG (electrocardiogram)

A recording of the heart’s electrical activity, taken with stickers on the chest, arms and legs. It takes a few minutes and does not hurt.

GFR and eGFR (kidney filtering)

GFR (glomerular filtration rate) is how much blood the kidneys filter each minute. It is usually estimated from a blood test — eGFR, by formulas such as CKD-EPI or MDRD — and some studies ask for it to be measured directly instead. Usually given in mL/min/1.73 m².

Check the method, the units and the minimum the study states. A value of 90 or above is in the normal-or-high range, but kidney damage can show in other tests too.

BMI (body mass index)

Weight in kilograms divided by height in metres squared. Example: 70 kg and 1.75 m gives 70 ÷ (1.75 × 1.75) ≈ 22.9.

What counts as overweight or obesity differs between countries (some use lower cut-offs), so go by the range the study states.

HbA1c

A blood test of average blood sugar over the past two to three months, given as a percentage or in mmol/mol. 6.5% (48 mmol/mol) or more is the usual threshold for diabetes, normally confirmed by a second test.

Child-Pugh class

A score of how well the liver works in people with liver disease such as cirrhosis: class A is mild, B moderate and C severe.

Hemoglobin (Hb)

The protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen. A low level is anaemia, which can cause tiredness and breathlessness. Measured in g/dL or g/L (9 g/dL is 90 g/L).

Clinically significant

Judged by the study doctor to matter for your health or for the study. It is a doctor’s decision, so ask the study team if you are unsure whether something counts.

Cancer (malignancy)

Malignancy means cancer. Criteria about another or earlier malignancy ask whether you have had a different cancer, usually within a set number of years.

Some are commonly allowed, such as treated skin cancers other than melanoma and early cancers removed completely — check the exceptions this study lists.

Contraindication

A reason a treatment, test or procedure should not be given to a particular person, such as an allergy, another illness or a medicine they take.

05

Study design

Phase
Phase 4
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Single group
Masking
Double (Participant, Investigator)
Enrollment
169 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Active comparator
    Empagliflozin

    Single 10 mg tablet, administered orally once daily for 6 months

    Drug: Empagliflozin

  • Placebo comparator
    Placebo

    Single 10 mg tablet, administered orally once daily for 6 months

    Drug: Placebo

Interventions

  • Single oral tablet

    Also known as: Jardiance

  • DrugPlacebo

    Placebo tablet manufactured to mimic empagliflozin 10 mg tablet

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Left Ventricular (LV) mass

    Change in Left Ventricular (LV) mass (indexed to body surface area (BSA)) at 6 months. This will be measured using CMRI.

    Time frame: 6 months

Secondary outcomes

  1. LV end-diastolic volume

    Change in LV end-diastolic volume (indexed to BSA) at 6 months. This will be measured using CMRI.

    Time frame: 6 months

  2. LV end-systolic volume

    Change in LV end-systolic volume (indexed to BSA) at 6 months. This will be measured using CMRI.

    Time frame: 6 months

  3. Left Ventricular Ejection Fraction (LVEF)

    Change in LVEF at 6 months. This will be measured using CMRI.

    Time frame: 6 months

  4. LV wall stress

    Change in LV wall stress at 6 months. This will be measured using CMRI.

    Time frame: 6 months

  5. LV systolic function

    Change in LV systolic function at 6 months. This will be measured using CMRI.

    Time frame: 6 months

  6. LV diastolic function

    Change in LV diastolic function at 6 months. This will be measured using CMRI.

    Time frame: 6 months

  7. NT-proBNP

    Change in circulating NT-proBNP at 6 months.

    Time frame: 6 months

  8. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure

    Change in systolic and diastolic blood pressure at 6 months.

    Time frame: 6 months

  9. Hematocrit

    Change in hematocrit at 6 months in patients.

    Time frame: 6 months

07

Study locations

4 sites
  • Diagnostic Assessment Centre (AMS Diagnostics)
    Toronto, Ontario M1S 4N6, Canada
  • St. Michael's Hospital
    Toronto, Ontario M5B 1W8, Canada
  • North York Diagnostic and Cardiac Centre
    Toronto, Ontario M6B 3H7, Canada
  • Chang Gung Memorial Hospital
    Keelung, Taiwan
08

References and documents

Publications

  • Connelly KA, Mazer CD, Puar P, Teoh H, Wang CH, Mason T, Akhavein F, Chang CW, Liu MH, Yang NI, Chen WS, Juan YH, Opingari E, Salyani Y, Barbour W, Pasricha A, Ahmed S, Kosmopoulos A, Verma R, Moroney M, Bakbak E, Krishnaraj A, Bhatt DL, Butler J, Kosiborod MN, Lam CSP, Hess DA, Rizzi Coelho-Filho O, Lafreniere-Roula M, Thorpe KE, Quan A, Leiter LA, Yan AT, Verma S. Empagliflozin and Left Ventricular Remodeling in People Without Diabetes: Primary Results of the EMPA-HEART 2 CardioLink-7 Randomized Clinical Trial. Circulation. 2023 Jan 24;147(4):284-295. doi: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.122.062769. Epub 2022 Nov 6. PubMed 36335517 ↗

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No

09

Timeline

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
ElapsedEstimatedEstimated, not yet reachedSimilar studies: half by the dot; the band is the middle halfHalf of similar studies reached it by the dot; the band is the middle half, from a quarter to three quarters

Ran from Apr 2021 to primary completion in Jul 2022, 15 months.

Of 14 phase 4 interventional studies under Hypertrophy, Left Ventricular, half reached primary completion within 30 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 25 and three quarters within 44. This study's 15 months is below that.

How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.

Registered
Jul 2, 2020
First posted
Jul 8, 2020
StartActual
Apr 1, 2021
Primary completionActual
Jul 31, 2022
CompletionActual
Jul 31, 2022
Last update
Feb 17, 2023
What these dates mean
Start.
When the first participant enrolled; while estimated, when the study expects to open to recruitment.
Primary completion.
When the last participant was examined or treated to collect data for the study's main question, its primary outcome. A study that stopped early gives the date its data collection stopped.
Completion.
When the last participant's last visit took place, for every outcome, secondary ones and side effects included: the end of the study. Often later than primary completion, sometimes the same day.
Actual and Est.
Actual means the registry says the date has happened. Est. (estimated) is a date the sponsor plans or expects. It can still move, and the sponsor is expected to change it to actual once it has passed.
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Feb 17, 2023, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT04461041
Collaborators
Canadian Medical and Surgical Knowledge Translation Research Group, Boehringer Ingelheim, Applied Health Research Centre
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Jul 8, 2020
Start date
Apr 1, 2021
Primary completion
Jul 31, 2022
Completion
Jul 31, 2022
Last update
Feb 17, 2023

Study contacts

Subodh Verma, MD PhD
principal investigator · Unity Health Toronto

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
Yes
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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Studies of the drug tested here: Empagliflozin

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