Effect of GLP-1 Receptor Agonists on Renal Functions and Diabetic Nephropathy in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) Patients: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Diabetes mellitus (DM) causes multiple kidney problems ultimately leading to renal failure, with a marked rise in the number of patients worldwide requiring renal replacement therapy (RRT). Diabetic kidney disease (DKD) remains a leading cause of morbidity and death despite advancements in treatment; however, recent cardiovascular outcome trials have highlighted the potential benefits of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists and sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors in managing chronic kidney disease (CKD) and cardiovascular risks in type 2 diabetes (T2DM) patients, leading to recommendations for their use following metformin in clinical guidelines. The meta-analysis was run on RevMan 5.4 (The Cochrane Collaboration, 2020). Risk of bias was done using the Cochrane Risk of Bias (RoB) 2 tool for the quality assessment of studies. Eleven studies were selected for this systematic review, all of which provided sufficient data for the outcomes. The effect size calculated for urinary albumin excretion rate (UAER) was calculated to be d = -0.48, CI = 95% (-1.72, 0.75) and for estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) % and eGFR mL/min, it was found to be d = -0.71, CI = 95% (-2.00, 0.58) and d = -0.71, CI = 95% (-2.00, 0.58), respectively. Overall, this meta-analysis supports the use of GLP-1 receptor agonists as an effective therapeutic option to protect renal function in T2DM patients, particularly those at high risk of or with existing DKD.