Effect of immediate and prolonged GLP‐1 receptor agonist administration on uric acid and kidney clearance:Post‐hocanalyses of four clinical trials

Aims: To determine the effects of glucagon-like peptide (GLP)-1 receptor agonists (RA) on uric acid (UA) levels and kidney UA clearance. Material and methods: This study involved post-hoc analyses of 4 controlled clinical trials, which assessed actions of GLP-1RA administration on kidney physiology. The immediate effects of GLP-1RA exenatide infusion vs placebo were determined in 9 healthy overweight men (Study-A) and in 52 overweight T2DM patients (Study-B). The effects of 12 weeks of long-acting GLP-1RA liraglutide vs placebo in 36 overweight T2DM patients (Study-C) and of 8 weeks of short-acting GLP-1RA lixisenatide vs once-daily titrated insulin glulisine in 35 overweight T2DM patients (Study-D) were also examined. Plasma UA, fractional (inulin-corrected) and absolute urinary excretion of UA (UEUA) and sodium (UENa), and urine pH were determined. Results: Median baseline plasma UA level was 5.39 to 6.33 mg/dL across all studies (17%-22% of subjects were hyperuricaemic). In Study-A, exenatide infusion slightly increased plasma UA (+0.07 ± 0.02 mg/dL, P =.04), and raised absolute-UEUA (+1.58 ± 0.65 mg/min/1.73 m2, P =.02), but did not affect fractional UEUA compared to placebo. Fractional UEUA and absolute UEUA correlated with increases in urine pH (r:0.86, P =.003 and r:0.92, P