Effect of the glucagon-like peptide-1 analogue liraglutide on coronary microvascular function in patients with type 2 diabetes - a randomized, single-blinded, cross-over pilot study

What Was Tested

This randomized controlled trial paper looks at Liraglutide.

The aim of the study was to explore the short-term effect of GLP-1 treatment on coronary microcirculation estimated by CFR in patients with type 2 diabetes.

Why It Was Studied

In the absence of stenosis of major coronary arteries, coronary flow reserve (CFR) reflects coronary microcirculation.

Who Took Part

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

Patients with type 2 diabetes and no history of coronary artery disease were treated with either the GLP-1 analogue liraglutide or received no treatment for 10 weeks, in a randomized, single-blinded, cross-over setup with a 2 weeks wash-out period.

How the Study Was Run

The design is described as randomized, single-blind, crossover and pilot.

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

In this single-blind Liraglutide study one party knew the assignments and the other did not.

Each person switched between Liraglutide and the comparison at some point, usually with a gap in between.

It is described as a pilot, a small early test of whether a larger Liraglutide study would be practical.

The timeline in the abstract includes 10 weeks.

The effect of liraglutide on coronary microcirculation was evaluated using non-invasive trans-thoracic Doppler-flow echocardiography during dipyridamole induced stress.

Peripheral microvascular endothelial function was assessed by Endo-PAT2000®.

Interventions were compared by two-sample t-test after ensuring no carry over effect.

What Was Measured

Topics PubMed links to this paper include Coronary Circulation, Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2, Glucagon-Like Peptide 1, Hypoglycemic Agents, Liraglutide, Microvessels and Pilot Projects.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, single-blind and crossover study of Liraglutide over 10 weeks.

The abstract goes on to report its results in about 7 sentences; this page does not restate them, so read the paper for the findings and their limits.

The publication is from 2015 (Cardiovascular diabetology), a journal based in England.

More context: the Liraglutide compound page.