Adverse events (Figure 5)
Three outcomes were used to evaluate adverse events: the total number of
patients who experienced any adverse event, adverse events related to
the treatment regimen, and adverse events leading to discontinuation of
the trial regimen. All seven studies [5,10,13-17]reported the total number of patients experiencing adverse events, and
the pooled analysis revealed that the total number of patients
experiencing any adverse event was similar in both groups (RR = 1.00
[0.99, 1.01] p=0.56; I2= 0%). However, 5 out of 7 studies[5,10,14,15,16] reported adverse events related to
treatment regimen, and the pooled analysis revealed that treatment with
Finerenone was associated with a higher risk of adverse events related
to the treatment regimen (RR = 1.40 [1.33, 1.46] p
<0.00001; I2= 0%). Similarly, adverse events leading to
discontinuation of treatment regimen were reported in six out of seven
studies [5,10,13-16], and the pooled analysis
revealed that treatment with Finerenone was associated with a higher
risk of treatment discontinuation compared to placebo (RR = 1.62
[0.84, 3.10] p=0.15; I2 = 98%), respectively. Due to the high
heterogeneity of adverse events leading to treatment discontinuation, a
sensitivity analysis was performed, which revealed that excluding
Gerasimos 2021 [15] reduced heterogeneity and
rendered the results statistically significant (RR = 1.22 [1.11,
1.33] p 0.0001; I2= 0%).