Pleiotropic effects of liraglutide in patients with type 2 diabetes and moderate renal impairment: Individual effects of treatment

Liraglutide has pleiotropic effects favouring cardiovascular and renal risks. We investigated individual responses to liraglutide in six cardio-renal risk factors to examine whether responses in one risk factor are associated with changes in other risk factors (cross-dependency). We performed secondary analysis of the LIRA-RENAL trial (n=279) in type 2 diabetes. HbA1c, body weight, systolic blood pressure (SBP)(,) low density lipoprotein (LDL)-cholesterol, urine albumin-to-creatinine ratio (UACR) and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) were measured at baseline and after 26weeks of liraglutide/placebo treatment: Good responders had a change within the best quartile. In the liraglutide-treated group, good HbA1c responders showed similar changes in other risk factors analysed to low responders (P0.17). Good body weight responders had a larger reduction in HbA1c than low body weight responders (-1.6 +/- 0.94 vs. -1.0 +/- 0.82%; P=0.003), but similar changes in the other risk factors (P0.11). Good and low responders in SBP, UACR, LDL-cholesterol or eGFR showed similar changes in other risk factors (P0.07). Treatment response to liraglutide is largely individual; aside from an association between body weight and HbA1c reduction, there are no obvious cross-dependencies in risk factor response.