No significant association of type 2 diabetes-related genetic risk scores with glycated haemoglobin levels after initiating metformin or sulphonylurea derivatives

AIM: To explore the added value of diabetes-related genetic risk scores (GRSs) to readily available clinical variables in the prediction of glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) levels after initiation of glucose-regulating drugs.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: We conducted a cohort study in people with type 2 diabetes (T2DM) from the Groningen Initiative to Analyse Type 2 Diabetes Treatment (GIANTT) database who initiated metformin (MET) or sulphonylurea derivatives (SUs) and for whom blood samples were genotyped. The primary outcome was HbA1c level at 6 months, adjusted for baseline HbA1c. GRSs were based on single nucleotide polymorphisms linked to insulin sensitivity, β-cell activity, and T2DM risk in general. Associations were analysed using multiple linear regression to assess whether adding the GRSs increased the explained variance in a prediction model that included age, gender, diabetes duration and cardio-metabolic biomarkers.

RESULTS: We included 282 patients initiating MET and 89 patients initiating SUs. In the MET prediction model, diabetes duration of >3 months when starting MET was associated with 2.7-mmol/mol higher HbA1c level. For SUs, no significant clinical predictors were identified. Addition of the GRS linked to insulin sensitivity (for MET), β-cell activity (for SUs) and T2DM risk (for both) to the models did not improve the explained variance significantly (22% without vs. 22% with GRS) for the MET and (14% without vs. 14% with GRS) for the SUs model, respectively.

CONCLUSION: This study did not indicate a significant effect of GRS related to T2DM in general or to the drugs' mechanism of action for prediction of inter-individual HbA1c variability in the short term after initiation of MET or SU therapy.