OBJECTIVETo investigate whether the use of incretin-based drugs (GLP-1 receptor agonists and dipeptidyl peptidase 4 [DPP4] inhibitors) is associated with acute pancreatitis.
RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODSThe study was a nationwide population-based case-control study using medical databases in Denmark. Participants were 12,868 patients with a first-time hospitalization for acute pancreatitis between 2005 and 2012 and a population of 128,680 matched control subjects. The main outcome measure was the odds ratio (OR) for acute pancreatitis associated with different antihyperglycemic drugs. We adjusted for history of gallstones, alcoholism, obesity, and other pancreatitisassociated comorbidities and medications.
RESULTSA total of 89 pancreatitis patients (0.69%) and 684 control subjects (0.53%) were ever users of incretins. The crude OR for acute pancreatitis among incretin users was 1.36 (95% CI 1.08-1.69), while it was 1.44 (95% CI 1.34-1.54) among users of other antihyperglycemic drugs. After confounder adjustment, the risk of acute pancreatitis was not increased among incretin users (OR 0.95 , compared with nonusers of any antihyperglycemic drugs. Findings were similar in current versus ever drug users and in patients with pancreatitis risk factors. The adjusted OR comparing incretinbased therapy with other antihyperglycemic therapy internally while also adjusting for diabetes duration and complications was 0.97 (95% CI 0.76-1.23).
CONCLUSIONSOur findings suggest that the use of incretin-based drugs appears not to be associated with an increased risk of acute pancreatitis.Incretin-based therapies represent a new and widely used class of oral antihyperglycemic drugs for the treatment of type 2 diabetes (1). These agents currently include three injectable incretin mimetic agents (GLP-1 receptor agonists: exenatide, liraglutide, and lixisenatide), five incretin enhancers (dipeptidyl peptidase 4 [DPP4] inhibitors: sitagliptin, vildagliptin, saxagliptin, linagliptin, and alogliptin [not currently licensed in Denmark]), and combinations of these DPP4 inhibitors with metformin or