Weight-related quality of life, health utility, psychological well-being, and satisfaction with exenatide once weekly compared with sitagliptin or pioglitazone after 26 weeks of treatment.

Objective: To assess change in patient-reported outcomes in subjects with type 2 diabetes treated with exenatide once weekly compared with those treated with sitagliptin or pioglitazone.

Research Design And Methods: In this 26-week randomized, multicenter, double-dummy study, 491 subjects received 2 mg of exenatide once weekly or maximum daily doses of sitagliptin (100 mg) or pioglitazone (45 mg) on a background of metformin. Weight-related quality of life, health utility, psychological well-being, and diabetes treatment satisfaction were assessed at baseline and week 26. Mean group changes from baseline to week 26 were estimated by ANCOVA.

Results: Weight-related quality of life total scores improved significantly in the exenatide once weekly and sitagliptin arms only; the exenatide once weekly group experienced significantly greater improvement than the pioglitazone group in weight-related quality of life total scores and in several domain scores. Health utility scores improved significantly for exenatide once weekly and sitagliptin groups (P < 0.05) with no significant difference between the exenatide once weekly group and either comparison group. All groups experienced significant improvements on the psychological well-being global scale and all six domain scores, with no significant difference between the exenatide once weekly group and either comparator. All groups experienced significant improvements in total diabetes treatment satisfaction scores. The exenatide once weekly group experienced greater improvement than the sitagliptin group in treatment satisfaction total scores.

Conclusions: In combination with clinical outcomes from this study, these results indicate it is possible for patients treated with metformin to initiate exenatide therapy with potential benefits in both clinical and patient-reported outcomes.