Efficacy and Safety of Injectable Dulaglutide 1.5 mg Among Type 2 Diabetes Patients in Clinics at King Saud Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Abstract

Type 2 diabetes mellitus is the most common type of diabetes, characterized by varying degrees of insulin resistance and diminishing beta-cell function, which increases the risk of macrovascular and microvascular complications. Dulaglutide is a long-acting glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist that is administered once weekly and approved for treating adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus. It can be used as a monotherapy or in addition to oral hypoglycemic or insulin therapy. This study aims to provide information contributing to assessing the efficacy and safety of weekly 1.5 mg dulaglutide therapy in Saudi adult patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. A retrospective single-arm cohort study using a purposive sample to recruit type 2 diabetes mellitus patients on dulaglutide from endocrine and diabetic outpatient clinics in King Saud Medical City (N = 205). Data were collected from participants' medical profiles and through the phone using interview questionnaires. Most participants were female and married; approximately 33% had had diabetes for more than 20 years, 41.4% of the sample had third-class obesity, and more than half had used dulaglutide for the last 1-2 years. With therapy, weight, body mass index, hemoglobin A1c, and fasting blood sugar were significantly improved after 6 and 12 months from baseline. The main side effects reported were nausea (52%) and fatigue (28%). Dulaglutide is a safe and effective therapy that demonstrated favorable glycemic control and weight reduction in obese type 2 diabetes patients of Saudi origin.