Each week, we identify one top search term, speculate as to what caused its popularity, and provide an infographic on a related condition. If you have thoughts about what's trending and why, feel free to share them with us on Twitter or Facebook!
Trending Clinical Topic of the Week (June 22-28): Liraglutide
News surrounding a drug for patients with diabetes seemingly captured everyone's attention this week. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) expanded the indication for liraglutide, a glucose-lowering drug, to include patients as young as 10 years. That makes the medication the first noninsulin drug in nearly 20 years to be approved to treat pediatric patients with type 2 diabetes. This extended indication was based on data from the Efficacy and Safety of Liraglutide in Combination With Metformin Compared to Metformin Alone, in Children and Adolescents With Type 2 Diabetes (Ellipse) trial. That study included obese patients aged 10-17 years who had inadequately controlled type 2 diabetes. Patients who received liraglutide saw a drop of 0.64 percentage points in A1c, compared with a 0.42 percentage point increase among those who received placebo.
A separate study found good news about liraglutide use in type 1 diabetes as well. Taken every day, liraglutide preserved postprandial insulin secretion for 1 year after type 1 diabetes diagnosis; those effects disappeared 6 weeks after treatment ended. Patients who received liraglutide also had reduced insulin doses and reduced hypoglycemic events compared with those receiving placebo. A recent editorial called for cardiologists to familiarize themselves with new advances in diabetes treatments like these. It mentioned a study presented at the 2019 Endocrine Society Annual Meeting that found cardiologists now see more patients with diabetes than do endocrinologists. Thus, staying abreast of new diabetes medications and indications is particularly important for that group. Clearly, all of those who care for patients with diabetes are paying close attention, as liraglutide is this week's top trending clinical topic.
Read more about type 2 diabetes.
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Any views expressed above are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect the views of WebMD or Medscape.
Cite this: Ryan Syrek. Trending Clinical Topics for June 2019 - Medscape - Jun 28, 2019.
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