Cardiovascular outcomes of liraglutide in patients with type 2 diabetes: A systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Liraglutide is a novel, long-acting glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) analogue used to treat type 2 diabetes mellitus. However, the cardiovascular safety and benefits of liraglutide treatment on type 2 diabetes patients remain in debate. In this study, we aimed to examine the overall cardiovascular outcomes of liraglutide in patients with type 2 diabetes. METHODS: In this systematic review and meta-analysis, we searched the PubMed, Embase, and Web of Knowledge databases up to September 1st, 2017 for randomized trials in which type 2 diabetes patients were assigned to liraglutide and placebo or other comparators groups. RESULTS: Eight studies fulfilled the eligibility criteria for inclusion and 14,608 patients were analyzed in this systematic review and meta-analysis. We found patients in the liraglutide group had a lower risk of major cardiovascular events (MACE) (RR = 0.89, 95% CI: 0.82–0.96, P = .002), acute myocardial infarction (AMI) (RR = 0.85, 95% CI: 0.74–0.99, P = .036), all-cause death (RR = 0.84, 95% CI: 0.74–0.96, P = .009), and cardiovascular death (RR = 0.77, 95% CI: 0.65–0.91, P = .002) than all comparator groups. However, liraglutide treatment did not decrease incidence of stroke (RR = 0.86, 95% CI: 0.70–1.04, P = .124). But among the MACE subgroups analysis, a significant reduction of MACE with liraglutide was only observed in placebo-controlled trials (RR = 0.89, 95% CI: 0.83–0.96, P = .004) but not in studies concerning other comparators (RR = 0.58, 95% CI: 0.29–1.16, P = .122). CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, our results suggest that liraglutide treatment decreases the risk of MACE, AMI, all-cause death and cardiovascular death among patients with type 2 diabetes.