Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Recent reports suggest that female sex could be an indicator of better response to liraglutide in patients included in clinical trials.

Aim: To compare efficacy of liraglutide in women and men with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), in real clinical practice.

Patients and methods: Our study included 116 patients with T2DM and obesity (BMI >30) attending outpatient clinic, which initiated with liraglutide (0.6 mg/daily for the first week, followed by a dose of 1.2 mg/daily) and were studied prospectively during 6 months. Demographic, clinical and biochemical characteristics were collected at baseline and after 6 months. The percentage of patients achieving HbA1c <7% with no weight gain was assessed (responders). Data are expressed as mean (S.D.) or as percentage.

Results: There were 49.1% men. At baseline the 2 groups were similar in age, years of evolution of DM, glycemic control and weight. At 6 months women and men showed significant reductions in weight and HbA1c from baseline (women: IMC 41.9 (8.6) vs 39.6 (7.2), P<0.001. HbA1c 7.8 (1.4) vs 6.8 (1.1), P<0.001. Men: IMC 37.4 (6.3) vs 36.0 (5.9), P<0.001. HbA1c 8.0 (1.3) vs 6.8 (1.1), P<0.001). There were no differences in the improvement of glycemic control between sex groups. The reductions in body weight were slightly greater in women but the difference was not statistically significant with men. There were more ‘responders’ between women but not statistically different (47.1 vs 62.9%, P: 0.187). Significant reductions in lipid and blood pressure occurred from baseline, but differences between the 2 groups were non-significant. No major hypoglycemia and a low incidence of minor hypoglycemia were seen in both groups.

Conclusions: This study demonstrates that liraglutide, in a real world setting, is associated with reduction in HbA1c, body weight, blood pressure and lipids in both sex groups. We did not find differences in liraglutide response between women and men.