Duration of diabetes did not appear to modify the effect of GLP1-RA drugs on MACE across subgroups [duration < 10 years: 0.85 (0.72–1.01); duration ≥ 10 years: 0.88 (0.82–0.95)]; SGLT-2i drugs showed a 14% reduction in the risk of MACE in patients with a history of diabetes longer than ten years and had null effect on those with a shorter one [duration < 10 years: 0.86 (0.79–0.93); duration ≥ 10 years: 1.03 (0.94–1.13)] (difference between patients with diabetes < 10 years vs. duration ≥ 10 years: p = 0.472) ( Additional file 1: Figure S4). The gene discussed is GLP1R; the disease is diabetes mellitus.