Liraglutide Investigated for Delirium Prevention in Diabetic Elderly Post-Cardiac Surgery

Postoperative delirium (POD) is a severe complication in elderly patients undergoing cardiac surgery, leading to increased morbidity, mortality, and healthcare costs. Patients with Type 2 diabetes are at higher risk due to systemic inflammation, metabolic dysregulation, and cerebrovascular compromise. Current preventive strategies are often insufficient, highlighting an urgent need for novel pharmacological interventions. Liraglutide, a glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor (GLP-1R) agonist, is known for its glucose-lowering effects and has demonstrated pleiotropic benefits, including anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective properties, making it a promising candidate for POD prevention.

This record describes the aim of a proposed clinical study designed to investigate the preventive effect of perioperative liraglutide application on postoperative delirium. The target population includes elderly patients with Type 2 diabetes who are scheduled to undergo cardiac surgery. While specific details regarding the liraglutide dose, route of administration, frequency, or duration of treatment are not provided in this abstract, the intervention is intended to be administered around the time of surgery. The primary endpoint will likely be the incidence or severity of postoperative delirium, assessed using validated clinical scales. A control arm, likely receiving standard care or placebo, would be essential for comparison, though not explicitly stated here.

This research record outlines the objective of a study and does not contain any findings, results, or data. The study is in the planning or recruitment phase, and therefore, no empirical evidence regarding liraglutide's efficacy or safety in preventing postoperative delirium in this specific patient population has been generated or reported yet. Consequently, no statistical outcomes, percentages, p-values, or fold-changes can be presented from this abstract. The potential for liraglutide to modulate pathways relevant to delirium, such as neuroinflammation, oxidative stress, or glucose metabolism in the brain, remains an area for future investigation by this study.