Benefits of Liraglutide Treatment in Overweight and Obese Older Individuals With Prediabetes

The aim was to evaluate the ability of liraglutide to augment weight loss and improve insulin resistance, cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors, and inflammation in a high-risk population for type 2 diabetes (T2DM) and CVD. We randomized 68 older individuals (mean age, 58±8 years) with overweight/obesity and prediabetes to this double-blind study of liraglutide 1.8 mg versus placebo for 14 weeks. All subjects were advised to decrease calorie intake by 500 kcal/day. Peripheral insulin resistance was quantified by measuring the steady-state plasma glucose (SSPG) concentration during the insulin suppression test. Traditional CVD risk factors and inflammatory markers also were assessed. Eleven out of 35 individuals (31%) assigned to liraglutide discontinued the study compared with 6 out of 33 (18%) assigned to placebo (P=0.26). Subjects who continued to use liraglutide (n=24) lost twice as much weight as those using placebo (n=27; 6.8 vs. 3.3 kg; P