Diabetes Treatment Improves Risks of All Cause, CV Mortality

Treatment with glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) agonists significantly reduces the risks of all-cause and cardiovascular (CV) mortality in patients with diabetes, according to a recent meta-analysis.

GLP-1 agonists are used to help improve glycemic control in patients with type 2 diabetes. However, the microvascular and macrovascular effects of these treatments remain unclear.
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For their analysis, the researchers assessed data from 60,434 patients enrolled in 77 trials until June 2017. Data were obtained via MEDLINE, Cochrane, ISI Web of Science, SCOPUS, and ClinicalTrial.gov. Studies that met the inclusion criteria had enrolled more than 200 patients, had compared GLP-1 agonists with placebo or with active treatments in patients with diabetes, and had assessed outcomes including all-cause mortality, CV-related mortality, myocardial infarction (MI), stroke, heart failure (HF), diabetic retinopathy, and diabetic nephropathy.

Results indicated that treatment with GLP-1 agonists had significantly decreased the risks of all-cause mortality and CV-related mortality, compared with control treatments. However, GLP-1 agonists had no effect on the risks for MI, stroke, HF, retinopathy, or nephropathy.

“Treatment with GLP-1 agonists in DM patients is associated with a significant reduction of all cause and CV mortality,” the researchers concluded.

—Christina Vogt

Reference:

Gargiulo P, Savarese G, D’Amore C, et al. Efficacy and safety of glucagon-like peptide-1 agonists on macrovascular and microvascular events in type 2 diabetes mellitus: a meta-analysis [Published online September 26, 2017]. Nutr Metab Cardiovasc Dis.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.numecd.2017.09.006.