Effects of exercise and liraglutide on vascular health and inflammation during weight loss maintenance: a prespecified secondary analysis of the S-LiTE trial
Exercise, with or without liraglutide, reduced carotid artery wall thickness and inflammatory markers in adults with obesity after diet-induced weight loss, whereas liraglutide alone did not. Combining exercise with liraglutide also improved several blood markers of endothelial function. These findings come from a secondary analysis of 130 adults in the S-LiTE trial over 52 weeks.
Randomized controlled trial — Prespecified secondary analysis of a randomized trial. Population: Adults with obesity who completed diet-induced weight loss and entered weight maintenance. Sample size: 130 adults. Follow-up: 52 weeks. Interventions: exercise; liraglutide; exercise plus liraglutide. Cited by 1 other paper.
In 130 adults with obesity, exercise alone or combined with liraglutide reduced carotid intima-media thickness and systemic levels of interleukin-6 and interferon-gamma during 52 weeks of weight-maintenance treatment. Combination treatment also improved the endothelial function biomarkers sICAM-1, sVCAM-1 and tPA. Liraglutide alone showed no such improvements. The abstract reports no numerical effect sizes or confidence intervals.
For researchers studying liraglutide, this paper suggests liraglutide alone may not reproduce the vascular and anti-inflammatory benefits seen with exercise after weight loss, while adding liraglutide to exercise may provide further endothelial improvements. It does not establish causality for these vascular outcomes and provides no dose information or effect sizes, so it should not be used to guide treatment decisions.
Key findings
Among 130 adults with obesity, exercise, alone or with liraglutide, reduced carotid intima-media thickness.
Exercise, alone or with liraglutide, reduced systemic interleukin-6 and interferon-gamma levels.
Exercise combined with liraglutide improved endothelial function biomarkers sICAM-1, sVCAM-1 and tPA.
Liraglutide alone showed no such improvements in vascular or inflammatory measures.
Participants were randomized to weight-maintenance interventions for 52 weeks after diet-induced weight loss.
Limitations
Authors do not state limitations in the abstract.
This is a secondary analysis, so the vascular outcomes were not the trial's primary endpoints.
The abstract does not describe a no-treatment control group, making attribution of effects to specific interventions less certain.
The 52-week follow-up may not capture longer-term atherosclerosis changes.
Funding: Novo Nordisk Fonden (Novo Nordisk Foundation); Novo Nordisk Fonden; Hjerteforeningen; Novo Nordisk Fonden; Novo Nordisk Fonden (Novo Nordisk Foundation); Hjerteforeningen (Heart Foundation); Please see the manuscript for specific details and recipients of funding.; Novo Nordisk Fonden; Novo Nordisk Fonden; Hjerteforeningen (Heart Foundation); EC | Horizon 2020 Framework Programme (EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation H2020); Helsefonden; Novo Nordisk Fonden (Novo Nordisk Foundation); Novo Nordisk Fonden (Novo Nordisk Foundation); Hjerteforeningen; EC | Horizon 2020 Framework Programme; Helsefonden (Health Foundation); Novo Nordisk Fonden; Novo Nordisk Fonden (Novo Nordisk Foundation); Novo Nordisk; Novo Nordisk Fonden; Novo Nordisk Fonden (Novo Nordisk Foundation)