Counter-regulatory hormone responses to hypoglycaemia in people with type 1 diabetes after 4 weeks of treatment with liraglutide adjunct to insulin: a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind, crossover trial

What Was Tested

The paper reports a study of Glucagon and Liraglutide, published as a randomized controlled trial.

To investigate the effect of glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonist liraglutide on the counter-regulatory hormone response to hypoglycaemia in type 1 diabetes.

Who Took Part

The study group was 45 adults.

By PubMed's age tags, the people studied were adults and middle-aged adults, both men and women.

Five participants were withdrawn from the trial; three because of adverse events.

All participants were included in the analysis.

How the Study Was Run

In design terms this was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled and crossover study.

Random assignment meant chance, not the researchers, decided who got Glucagon and who got the comparison, which limits bias.

As a double-blind Glucagon study, the assignments were hidden from both participants and investigators until the end.

The comparison arm used a placebo, so changes seen with Glucagon could be set against what happens without it.

In the crossover set-up each of the adults took both Glucagon and the comparison in turn, acting as their own control.

Clinical outcomes were also evaluated.

What Was Measured

The subject headings attached to it are Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1, Glucagon, Glucagon-Like Peptide 1, Glucose, Glucose Clamp Technique, Glycated Hemoglobin and Hypoglycemia.

Author keywords: GLP-1, catecholamines, counter-regulation, glucose infusion rate, hypoglycaemia and hypoglycaemic clamp.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of Glucagon and Liraglutide in 45 adults.

Results are reported in around 7 sentences of the abstract; we leave them to the paper itself rather than summarise them.

The publication is from 2015 (Diabetes, obesity & metabolism), a journal based in England.

More context: the Glucagon compound page and the Liraglutide compound page.