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Long-term administration of liraglutide for weight management in pediatric patients under 18 years: evidence from 7 randomized controlled trials

Pediatric Research (2025)Cite this article

Abstract

Background

Liraglutide, an analog of glucagon-like peptide-1, is prescribed for managing weight in obese people. This meta-analysis investigated whether liraglutide was suitable for younger children with obesity, and to evaluate the efficacy and safety of varying treatment durations and dosage regimens.

Methods

Randomized controlled trials published up to March 20, 2025 were retrieved from in PubMed, Embase, Scopus, Cochrane library, Web of Science, and Google Scholar.

Results

Seven trials involving 575 patients were included in the analysis. Liraglutide significantly decreased body mass index (BMI) (WMD: −0.57; P = 0.007), BMI z-score (WMD: −0.45; P < 0.00001), body weight (WMD: −0.31; P = 0.0004), HbA1c (WMD: −0.43; P = 0.004), fasting plasma glucose (WMD: −1.23; P = 0.003) and systolic blood pressure (WMD: −0.20; P = 0.03) compared with placebos in obese children and adolescents. Subgroup analyses found that children 6–12 years of age did not have a significantly different BMI z-score (z = 1.76; P = 0.08) and body weight (z = 1.75; P = 0.08) versus adolescents. Fifty-six weeks of liraglutide treatment (z = 4.60; P < 0.00001) significantly reduced the BMI z-score versus the short-term treatment group (<13 weeks) (z = 1.20; P = 0.23).

Conclusion

Liraglutide was an effective and safe option for managing overweight and obesity in children and adolescents. Liraglutide was more suitable for adolescents and is endorsed for long-term use.

Impact

  • This is the first meta-analysis to explore the suitability of liraglutide for younger children with obesity and to evaluate its efficacy and safety across varying treatment durations and dosage regimens.

  • Earlier meta-analyses did not include children under 12 years, and neither dosage nor treatment duration was specifically addressed.

  • Our result shows liraglutide is an effective and safe option for managing overweight and obesity in children and adolescents aged 6 to 18 years. Liraglutide was more suitable for adolescents and is endorsed for long-term use.

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Fig. 1
Fig. 2: Forest plots of efficacy outcomes comparing liraglutide group with control group.
Fig. 3: Forest plots of safety outcomes comparing liraglutide group with control group.

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Data availability

All analyzed datasets are provided in the article and supplemental materials. Reasonable requests for original materials can be made to the corresponding author.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Dr Liu for helpful comments on a draft version of this manuscript.

Funding

The authors declare that no funds, grants, or other support were received during the preparation of this manuscript. The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Jiayue Dong, Meilin Liu.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Fourth School of Clinical Medicine, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China

    Jiayue Dong & Meilin Liu

  2. Department of Neurology, Hangzhou Children’s Hospital, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China

    Zhanli Liu

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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by [Jiayue Dong], [Meilin Liu], and [Zhanli Liu]. The first draft of the manuscript was written by [Jiayue Dong,] and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Zhanli Liu.

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Dong, J., Liu, M. & Liu, Z. Long-term administration of liraglutide for weight management in pediatric patients under 18 years: evidence from 7 randomized controlled trials. Pediatr Res (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41390-025-04537-5

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