Takeaway
- In patients with pre-diabetes or type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), liraglutide may slow down memory function decline in early and possibly pre-clinical stages of the disease.
Why this matters
- Pre-diabetes and diabetes are associated with a greater risk of developing some degree of cognitive impairment.
- Preventing and controlling diabetes onset may help to reduce the risk for future cognitive decline.
Study design
- 32 metformin-treated obese patients with pre-diabetes or newly diagnosed T2DM randomly assigned to receive liraglutide injection (1.8 mg per day; n=16) or lifestyle counselling (dietary intervention and exercise training; n=16) until losing 7% of their initial body weight.
- Funding: Italian Ministry of University and Research.
Key results
- Liraglutide vs lifestyle intervention group had a significant increase in:
- short-term memory (delta Digit Span Z score, 0.85±0.34; P=.024; Cohen’s effect size=0.82; difference between group, P=.041) and
- composite memory domain (delta memory Z score, 0.70±0.22; P=.006; Cohen’s effect size=0.90; difference between group, P=.032).
- In the liraglutide group, length of drug exposure was directly associated with the improvement in both:
- short-term memory (Rho=0.72; P=.002) and
- memory domain z-score (Rho=0.54; P=.031).
Limitations
- Small sample size and short-duration study.
References
References
