<b>Background:</b> Semaglutide, a newly once-weekly glucagon like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist, has showed a favorable effect on glycaemic control and weight reduction in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).
<b>Objective</b> To assess the impact of incretin based treatment on all cause mortality in patients with type 2 diabetes.<b>Design</b> Systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised trials.<b>Data sources</b> Medline, Embase, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), and ClinicalTrials.gov.<b>Eligibility criteria</b> Randomised controlled trials that compared glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists or dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitors with placebo or active anti-diabetic drugs in patients with type 2 diabetes.<b>Data collection and analysis</b> Paired reviewers independently screened citations, assessed risk of bias of included studies, and extracted data.
Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is an important risk factor of AD; and mimetics of the incretin hormone GLP-1 developed to treat diabetes are being tested as a novel therapeutic strategy for AD.
GLP-1 itself, however, is inactivated rapidly in vivo and thus does not appear to be useful as a therapeutic agent in the long-term treatment of Type 2 diabetes.
GLP-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs) and dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitors, which inhibit the physiological inactivation of endogenous GLP-1, are used for the treatment of type 2 diabetes.
Glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RAs) are recommended as add-on therapy in patients with uncontrolled type 2 diabetes (T2D), with no specific guidance as to timing versus insulin.
GLP-1-based strategies have many advantages in treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), but native GLP-1 has a short half-life in the circulation, which limits its clinical application.