Is Liraglutide a Safe and Effective Medication to Treat Hyperglycaemia?: A Systematic Review

Background: The aim of this systematic review is to examine the effectiveness of Liraglutide on glycemic control and Systolic Blood Pressure (SBP) in patients with Type 2 Diabetes (T2D) mellitus and to investigate whether Liraglutide leads to any Gastrointestinal (GI) adverse effects. Materials and Methods: seven databases were searched, including CINAHL, MEDLINE, PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane, Joana Briggs Institute (JBI). Only Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs) that assessed safety and efficacy of Liraglutide in patients with type 2 diabetes were included. The extracted outcome measures were HbA1c, SBP, and GI disturbances. Results: 40 RCTs were included with overall numbers of participants were 16,113. Liraglutide as monotherapy or as adjunct treatments to other diabetes treatments showed significant reduction in HbA1c levels in patients with T2D. Nine studies compared Liraglutide to a placebo and Liraglutide was superior to the placebo at HbA1c reduction. Four studies compared Liraglutide to Sitagliptin, five to Glimepiride, and one to Rosiglitazone, in these studies Liraglutide was also superior at HbA1c reduction. Two studies compared it to Metformin, in one of them Liraglutide was superior. One study compared Liraglutide to variety of Oral Anti-Diabetes Medications (OADs); Liraglutide was superior at HbA1c reduction. Ten studies compared Liraglutide to variety of insulin therapy, the combination of Liraglutide plus Insulin showed greater reduction at HbA1c levels than Liraglutide or Insulin alone. In addition, Liraglutide was superior when compared to insulin as part and insulin glargine at HbA1c reduction. Eight studies compared Liraglutide to glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist (Exenatide, Dulaglutide, Lixisenatide, Albiglutide, and Semaglutide), Liraglutide was superior to Exenatide, Lixisenatide, and Albiglutide at HbA1c reduction. In most of the included studies Liraglutide showed significant reduction in SBP. Liraglutide can lead to different GI events, most frequently nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea, which are transient in nature. Conclusion: The results of this systematic review indicated that Liraglutide as a monotherapy or as adjunct treatments to other diabetes treatments could significantly lower HbA1c levels and SBP. Although the gastrointestinal adverse event is common with Liraglutide, Liraglutide can be effective choice in T2D treatment