Real-world effectiveness of liraglutide in children with type 2 diabetes
Abstract
Importance: Since liraglutide's approval for the treatment of type 2 diabetes (T2D) in children, no real-world studies have examined its clinical outcomes in adolescents.
Objective: Compare hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) changes in adolescents with T2D taking liraglutide in a clinical setting.
Design: Retrospective cohort study from 2020 to 2023.
Participants: Patients with T2D ages <18 years who were prescribed liraglutide. Patients were divided into 2 groups: treated (those with evidence of taking liraglutide for ≥26 weeks) and control (those prescribed but who did not take liraglutide).
Main outcomes: Changes in HbA1c after 26 weeks of treatment were calculated. Secondary outcomes included HbA1c changes after 52 weeks, and body mass index (BMI) z score changes and lipid markers at 26 and/or 52 weeks.
Results: There was a strong trend toward a decrease in HbA1c after 26 weeks of liraglutide treatment compared with control (−0.40 [−1.90, 0.20] vs +0.15 [−1.30, 0.88], P = .064; n = 85 vs n = 30); no difference was observed at 52 weeks (−0.20 [−1.23,0.93] vs 0.50 [−1.13,1.70], P = .15; n = 100 vs n = 44). BMI z score was stable in both groups, with no differences between groups. Lipid levels were available in a small subset of patients. The liraglutide-treated group had a decrease in total cholesterol (−0.21 [−0.60, 0.16] mmol/L vs 0.49 [0.06, 0.76] mmol/L, P = .005; n = 36 vs n = 12) and low-density lipoprotein (−0.23 [−0.56, 0.16] mmol/L vs 0.35 [0.14, 0.63] mmol/L, P < .01; n = 31 vs n = 12) vs control.
Conclusion: Liraglutide shows potential benefits for lowering HbA1c and cholesterol in children with T2D in a clinical setting. Additional work is needed to understand how to optimize HbA1c improvements with liraglutide.
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BibTeX
@article{heredia2026realworld,
title = {{Real-world effectiveness of liraglutide in children with type 2 diabetes}},
author = {Gabriel Castano Heredia and Rebecca Schneider Aguirre and Jennifer Bell and Selorm Dei-Tutu and Xioafan Huang and Danielle Guffei and Serife Uysal-Demiroz and Siripoom McKay and Nidhi Bansal and Stephanie Sisley},
journal = {Journal of the Endocrine Society},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1210/jendso/bvag230},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1210/jendso/bvag230},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Real-world effectiveness of liraglutide in children with type 2 diabetes
AU - Gabriel Castano Heredia
AU - Rebecca Schneider Aguirre
AU - Jennifer Bell
AU - Selorm Dei-Tutu
AU - Xioafan Huang
AU - Danielle Guffei
AU - Serife Uysal-Demiroz
AU - Siripoom McKay
AU - Nidhi Bansal
AU - Stephanie Sisley
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/05
JO - Journal of the Endocrine Society
DO - 10.1210/jendso/bvag230
UR - https://doi.org/10.1210/jendso/bvag230
AB - Importance: Since liraglutide's approval for the treatment of type 2 diabetes (T2D) in children, no real-world studies have examined its clinical outcomes in adolescents. Objective: Compare hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) changes in adolescents with T2D taking liraglutide in a clinical setting. Design: Retrospective cohort study from 2020 to 2023. Participants: Patients with T2D ages <18 years who were prescribed liraglutide. Patients were divided into 2 groups: treated (those with evidence of taking liraglutide for ≥26 weeks) and control (those prescribed but who did not take liraglutide). Main outcomes: Changes in HbA1c after 26 weeks of treatment were calculated. Secondary outcomes included HbA1c changes after 52 weeks, and body mass index (BMI) z score changes and lipid markers at 26 and/or 52 weeks. Results: There was a strong trend toward a decrease in HbA1c after 26 weeks of liraglutide treatment compared with control (−0.40 [−1.90, 0.20] vs +0.15 [−1.30, 0.88], P = .064; n = 85 vs n = 30); no difference was observed at 52 weeks (−0.20 [−1.23,0.93] vs 0.50 [−1.13,1.70], P = .15; n = 100 vs n = 44). BMI z score was stable in both groups, with no differences between groups. Lipid levels were available in a small subset of patients. The liraglutide-treated group had a decrease in total cholesterol (−0.21 [−0.60, 0.16] mmol/L vs 0.49 [0.06, 0.76] mmol/L, P = .005; n = 36 vs n = 12) and low-density lipoprotein (−0.23 [−0.56, 0.16] mmol/L vs 0.35 [0.14, 0.63] mmol/L, P < .01; n = 31 vs n = 12) vs control. Conclusion: Liraglutide shows potential benefits for lowering HbA1c and cholesterol in children with T2D in a clinical setting. Additional work is needed to understand how to optimize HbA1c improvements with liraglutide.
SN - 2472-1972
ER -