Concomitant Diabetes Mellitus and Heart Failure

The prevalence of patients with concomitant diabetes mellitus (DM) and heart failure (HF) is growing exponentially. Patients with HF and DM show specific metabolic, neurohormonal, and structural heart abnormalities, which potentially contribute to worse HF outcomes than seen in patients without comorbid DM. Subgroup analysis of recent trials suggest that patients with HF and DM may respond differently to standard therapy, and data are emerging on the possible increase in the risk of hospitalizations for HF in patients with DM treated with specific class of antidiabetic agents, pointing to the need of developing specific medications to be tested in dedicated future studies to address the unique metabolic and hemodynamic alterations seen in these patients.