Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Liraglutide has been shown to have a positive effect on the glycemic and lipidic profile of diabetic patients. We aimed to assess the metabolic profile in type 2 diabetic patients after 12 weeks of treatment by Liraglutide

Methods: This is a prospective study performed at the endocrinology department of the Military Hospital of Tunis. We recruited 22 patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) treated with insulin and/or oral antidiabetics. Liraglutide 1.2 mg was initiated subcutaneously once daily for 12 weeks to these patients. Anthropometric parameters and blood samples were collected at 0 and 12 weeks.

Results: The study population consisted of 8 male and 14 female individuals, with a mean age of 53.8 years with extremes ranging from 32 years to 66 years\. All of the patients had a body mass index indicative of overweight status, with 20 obese patients. Eight patients had hyperlipidemia, fifteen patients had hypertension and seven patients had coronary artery disease. There was no significant reduction in weight (110.7 kg vs 110.3 kg, P=0.639) but the reduction of body fat percentage was significant (40.7% vs 38.4%, P=0.046). HbA1c was significantly reduced at 12 weeks with Liraglutide (9.7% vs 8.4% P=0.022) but there were no significant reduction in fasting plasma glucose (12.2 vs 10.2 mmol/l, P=0.113). Regarding the lipidic profile, there was no significant modification in total cholesterol (4.5 vs 4.3 mmol/l, P=0.318), LDL cholesterol (2.41 vs 2.28 mmol/l,, P=0.569), Triglycerides (2.4 vs 2.3 mmol/l, P=0.835) and HDL cholesterol (1.1 vs 1.1 mmol/l, P=0.71).

Conclusion: Studies have shown that treatment with Liraglutide can lead to significant weight loss, reduction in HbA1c levels and decrease in total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol and triglycerides, which are all markers of cardiovascular risk. Liraglutide also increases HDL cholesterol. Our study supports these results in terms of glycemic control, but we did not find an improvement in the lipid profile. A study with a larger sample size is needed.