Liraglutide improves memory in obese patients with prediabetes or early type 2 diabetes: a randomized, controlled study

Background/objectives Diabetic subjects are at increased risk of subtle cognitive impairment since the disease early stages and of dementia later in life. In animal models, glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonizts (GLP1-RAs) have been shown to exert neuroprotective effects, expecially in the memory domain. We assessed whether treatment with a GLP1-RA might affect cognitive functions in type 2 diabetic subjects independently on the weight loss it might induce. Subjects/methods Forty metformin-treated obese subjects with prediabetes or newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes mellitus, received liraglutide (1.8 mg/d) (n = 20) or lifestyle counseling (dietary intervention and exercise training) (n = 20) until achieving a modest and comparable weight loss (-7% of initial body weight). Interventions/methods A detailed neuropsychological assessment before and after weight loss was completed in 16 patients per arm, who were administered a total of seven psychological tests, thus assessing three composite domain z-scores for attention, memory, and executive control. Results After comparable weight loss and superimposable glycemic control and insulin sensitivity, a significant increase in short term memory (mean Digit Span Z score from -0.06 to 0.80, p = 0.024) and memory composite z-score (mean memory z-score from -0.67 to 0.032, p = 0.0065) was observed in the liraglutide exposed subjects (between group p = 0.041 and p = 0.033, respectively). Conclusions Liraglutide might slow down memory function decline in diabetic patients in early, and possibly preclinical stages of the disease.