Abhishek Chitnis, Michael Ganz, Mette Hammer and Jakob Langer
Objective: Clinical trials have shown that liraglutide effectively lowers A1C levels and helps manage weight in Type 2 diabetes (T2D). Currently, no studies have solely evaluated the real-world clinical effectiveness of liraglutide in a T2D population of individuals 65 years and older. We examined the clinical effectiveness of liraglutide in individuals aged 65 years and older with T2D 6 and 12 months after starting therapy.
Methods: In this retrospective cohort study we used the General Electric Centricity electronic medical records database. We included individuals with T2D aged 65 years and older who initiated liraglutide at any time from January 1, 2010 to January 31, 2013. Individuals using either insulin or a glucagon-like peptide-1 analogue during 12 months before initiating liraglutide were excluded. Changes in A1C, weight, the proportion of individuals achieving a target A1C<7% and occurrence of severe hypoglycemic events at 6 and 12 months were evaluated.
Results: We identified 517 individuals with T2D who were 65 years and older with A1C>7% at baseline (45 days prior to therapy initiation to 7 days after). Individuals were, on average (standard deviation, SD), 70.6 (4.7) years old, 52.6% were female and 71.6% were white. A1C and weight at baseline were 8.2% (1.0%) and 101.0 (19.7) kg [222.6 (43.3) lbs], respectively. After 6 months A1C decreased by 0.76% (1.1%), weight decreased by 2.9 (5.4) kg [6.4 (11.9) lbs], and 37.1% of the sample achieved the target A1C<7%. Twelve-month outcomes were similar: 0.78% (1.2%) reduction in A1C, 3.1 (5.7) kg [6.8 (12.5) lbs] reduction in weight, and 39.9% achieved A1C<7%. No evidence of severe hypoglycemia was found either at 6 or at 12 months.
Conclusion: Individuals with T2D 65 years and older experienced a significant and sustained reduction in A1C and weight over 6 and 12 months without any occurrence of severe hypoglycemia.