Reductions in systolic blood pressure with liraglutide in patients with type 2 diabetes: Insights from a patient-level pooled analysis of six randomized clinical trials

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdiacomp.2014.01.009Get rights and content
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Abstract

Aims

To quantify the effect of liraglutide on systolic blood pressure (SBP) and pulse in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D), and assess the influence of covariates on observed SBP reductions.

Methods

A patient-level pooled analysis of six phase 3, randomized trials was conducted.

Results

The analysis included 2792 randomized patients. In the intention-to-treat population (n = 2783), mean [± SE] SBP reductions from baseline with liraglutide 1.2 mg (2.7 [0.8] mmHg) and 1.8 mg (2.9 [0.7] mmHg) once daily were significantly greater than with placebo (0.5 [0.9] mmHg; P = 0.0029 and P = 0.0004, respectively) after 26 weeks, and were evident after 2 weeks. Liraglutide was also associated with significantly greater SBP reductions than glimepiride and, at a dose of 1.8 mg, insulin glargine and rosiglitazone. SBP reductions with liraglutide weakly correlated with weight loss (Pearson’s correlation coefficient: 0.08–0.12; P  0.0148). No dependence of these reductions on concomitant antihypertensive medications was detected (P = 0.1304). Liraglutide 1.2 and 1.8 mg were associated with mean increases in pulse of 3 beats per minute (bpm), versus a 1 bpm increase with placebo (P < 0.0001 for each dose versus placebo).

Conclusions

Liraglutide reduces SBP in patients with T2D, including those receiving concomitant antihypertensive medication.

Keywords

Type 2 diabetes
Hypertension
Blood pressure
Liraglutide

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Conflicts of interest: V.F. has received advisory board honoraria and speakers’ bureau honoraria from Novo Nordisk, and his institution has received research funding from Novo Nordisk; V.F. is currently Editor-in-Chief of this journal. J.H.D. or his institution has received advisory board honoraria and speakers’ bureau honoraria from Novo Nordisk, and his institution has received research funding from Novo Nordisk. R.H.’s institution has received research funding from Novo Nordisk. J.P. has received consultancy fees from Novo Nordisk. M.D. and H.T. are currently employed by and own shares in Novo Nordisk A/S. These analyses were sponsored by Novo Nordisk A/S, Copenhagen, Denmark. All authors discussed the data, edited the manuscript for important intellectual content, and approved the version for publication. H.T carried out the statistical analyses.

Clinical trial registration: This patient-level pooled analysis is based on data from the following six clinical trials, registered at ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT00318422, NCT00318461, NCT00294723, NCT00333151, NCT00331851, NCT00518882.