ESPE Abstracts

Introduction: Liraglutide is a long-acting glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist which directly stimulate POMC neurons and inhibit neuropeptide-Y and Agouti-related peptide neurons of the arcuate nucleus resulting in appetite suppression. It has been approved in adult population for obesity.

Aim: To assess the Efficacy and Safety of Liraglutide in Indian Adolescent obese population.

Materials and Methods: Thirty-nine Adolescent (age 12-18 years) Obese patients (BMI>95th Percentile or >27 adult equivalent as per age and sex specific IAP growth chart) with Tanner Staging 2-5, not able to loose weight (<5% weight loss) with dietary restrictions and physical exercise (12weeks) and tab. Orlistat and tab. Metformin (12weeks) were included in this study. Patient were started on Inj. Liraglutide single daily dose 0.6 mg with gradual increase of 0.3mg every week till maximum dose of 1.8 mg before dinner and patients were re-evaluated after 12 weeks of treatment.

Results: At baseline, the mean (±SD) age of the patients was 15.4±1.99 years, the mean weight was 94.11±20.19 kg, and the mean BMI was 34.71±4.89 with male to female ratio 0.8:1. At week 12, patients in the liraglutide group had lost a mean of 6.58±4.22 kg of body weight, A total of 23.08% of the patients in the liraglutide group lost at least 10% of their body weight and 51.28% lost 5-10% of their body weight. The most frequently reported adverse events with liraglutide were mild or moderate nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.

Conclusion: Liraglutide had statistically significant beneficial outcomes in weight loss in adolescent obesity, not responding to conventional weight management interventions. It was well tolerated and none of the patients had deranged amylase or lipase. However longer studies are needed to evaluate the long term effects of this drug in the metabolic profile of the patients.