medwireNews: Treatment with the glucagon-like peptide (GLP)-1 receptor agonist liraglutide is associated with a reduction in cardiac adipose tissue volume among people with type 2 diabetes, suggests a secondary analysis of data from the LiraFlame trial.
The study, presented by Tine Hansen (Steno Diabetes Center Copenhagen, Denmark) at the virtual 57th EASD Annual Meeting, included 102 participants (mean age 66 years, 16% women) who received 26 weeks of treatment with liraglutide or placebo in the phase 4 trial. The average baseline cardiac adipose tissue volume was comparable in the liraglutide and placebo groups, at 232.6 mL and 227.0 mL, respectively.
Hansen reported that participants treated with the GLP-1 receptor agonist experienced a significant decrease in mean cardiac adipose tissue from baseline to week 26, whereas there was no significant change in the placebo group. The average reduction was significantly greater in the liraglutide versus the placebo group (11.50 vs 0.01 mL), but this difference lost statistical significance after adjustment for BMI.
Therefore, “the reduction was not independent of weight loss, suggesting that it is not a drug-specific effect,” said Hansen.
She noted that cardiac adipose tissue volume significantly correlated with vascular inflammation and circulating markers of inflammation at baseline, but there were no associations between changes in these variables over the treatment period.
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EASD Annual Meeting; Sept 27–Oct 1, 2021