The Antiobesity Effect of GLP-1 Receptor Agonists Alone or in Combination with Metformin in Overweight /Obese Women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Xiaorui Lyu; Taibiao Lyu; Xue Wang; Huijuan Zhu; Hui Pan; Linjie Wang; Hongbo Yang; Fengying Gong

doi:10.1155/2021/6616693

The Antiobesity Effect of GLP-1 Receptor Agonists Alone or in Combination with Metformin in Overweight /Obese Women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Int J Endocrinol. 2021 Feb 13:2021:6616693. doi: 10.1155/2021/6616693. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Xiaorui Lyu¹, Taibiao Lyu², Xue Wang¹, Huijuan Zhu¹, Hui Pan¹, Linjie Wang¹, Hongbo Yang¹, Fengying Gong¹

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Endocrinology of National Health Commission, Department of Endocrinology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Science, Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100730, China.
² Department of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, The Ministry of Education Key Laboratory, National Clinical Research Center for Dermatologic and Immunologic Diseases, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100730, China.

Abstract

Objectives: Both glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RAs) and metformin (MET) have markedly antiobesity effects in overweight/obese polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) patients. However, there was no literature to compare the antiobesity effects of these two medicines. Therefore, a systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted in our present study to evaluate the antiobesity effects of GLP-1RAs either as monotherapy or combined with MET in comparison with MET alone in overweight/obese PCOS patients.

Methods: All randomized controlled trials (RCTs) which reported the efficacy of GLP-1RAs and MET in overweight/obese PCOS patients in Medline (from Pubmed), Embase, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Web of Science, and Scopus databases were independently searched by two reviewers. The random-effect model was used to pool data extracted from the included literature. The weighted mean difference (WMD) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were used to present the meta-analysis results (PROSPERO registration number: CRD42020173199).

Results: A total of eight eligible RCTs were finally enrolled in our meta-analysis from the 587 retrieved literature. The results showed that GLP-1RAs alone or combined with MET was associated with a greater weight loss (N = 318, WMD = -2.61, 95% CI: -3.51 to -1.72, P ≤ 0.001, I ² = 77.5%), more obvious reduction of waist circumference (N = 276, WMD = -3.46, 95% CI: -4.36 to -2.56, P ≤ 0.001, I ² = 0.0%), and body mass index (BMI) (N = 318, WMD = -0.93, 95% CI: -1.60 to -0.26, P=0.007, I ² = 84.9%) in overweight/obese PCOS patients when compared with MET alone. Further sensitivity analysis demonstrated that the meta-analysis results of the efficacy differences in terms of body weight, waist circumference, and BMI were relatively stable and reliable.

Conclusion: Our meta-analysis demonstrated that the antiobesity effect of GLP-1RAs alone or combined with MET was superior to MET alone in terms of weight loss, the reduction of waist circumference, and BMI. More large-scale, high-quality RCTs are needed to further confirm these results in PCOS patients.

Publication types

Review