Association of Bile Duct and Gallbladder Diseases With the Use of Incretin-Based Drugs in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

In this cohort of 71,369 new users of antidiabetic drugs, 853 patients had an incident hospital admission for bile duct or gallbladder disease. Whilst current use of DPP-4 inhibitors was not associated with an increased risk, current use of GLP-1 analogues was.

Current use of DPP-4 inhibitors was not associated with an increased risk of bile duct and gallbladder disease compared with current use of at least 2 oral antidiabetic drugs (3.6 vs 3.3 per 1000 person-years; adjusted HR, 0.99; 95% CI, 0.75-1.32). In contrast, the use of GLP-1 analogues was associated with an increased risk compared with current use of at least 2 oral antidiabetic drugs (6.1 vs 3.3 per 1000 person-years; adjusted HR, 1.79; 95% CI, 1.21-2.67).

A related editorial discusses the findings of this study, together with the findings of a study evaluating the association between incretin-based drugs and the risk of acute pancreatitis.