Context: Diabetes mellitus (DM) represents an emerging epidemic, poses serious threats to human health, and can seriously compromise patients' quality of life (QoL). Currently, no cure exists for DM. Some studies have found that both liraglutide and dapagliflozin have great therapeutic potential in preventing and treating DM and its complications.
Objective: The study aimed to examine the impact of liraglutide plus dapagliflozin on high uric acid (UA) and microalbuminuria (MAU) in patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) complicated with metabolic syndrome (MS).
Design: The research team designed a randomized controlled trial.
Setting: The study took place at the Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University in Nanjing, Jiangsu, China.
Participants: Participants were 125 patients with DM complicated with MS who were treated in the outpatient clinic of the endocrinology department at the hospital between January 1, 2020 and December 31, 2021, with 68 in the intervention group and 57 in the control group.
Intervention: The intervention and control groups both received 0.6 mg of liraglutide. The intervention group also received 5 mg of dapagliflozin once a day. The dosages were increased at one week after baseline based on the participant's condition.
Outcome measures: Therapeutic effects, glycolipid metabolism, inflammation, uric acid (UA), microalbuminuria (MAU), cardiac function, and quality of life (QoL) were compared between the two groups.
Results: Postintervention, the clinical efficacy was significantly higher in the intervention group than in the control group. The intervention group had significantly lower glycolipid metabolism and inflammatory-factor levels than the control group UA and MAU had declined in both groups but were significantly lower in the intervention group. The left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) increased and the left ventricular end diastolic diameter (LVEDd) decreased in both groups, but the intervention group had significantly greater changes as compared with those in the control group. The intervention group was also superior to the control group in patients' QoL.
Conclusions: Liraglutide plus dapagliflozin has highly therapeutic effect for patients with DM complicated with MS and can effectively reduce UA and MAU levels. The current research team will launch a more comprehensive analysis as soon as possible to obtain the most accurate results.