In the outpatient setting, Glucagon‐like peptide‐1 (GLP‐1) receptor agonists have proved to be highly efficacious drugs that provide glycaemic control with a low risk of hypoglycaemia. These characteristics make GLP‐1 receptor agonists attractive agents to treat dysglycaemia in perioperative or high‐dependency hospital settings; where glycaemic variability and hyperglycaemia are associated with poor prognosis. GLP‐1 also has a direct action on the myocardium and vasculature ‐ which may be advantageous in the immediate aftermath of a vascular insult. This is a narrative review of the work in this area.

The aim was to determine the populations of hospitalised patients being evaluated and the clinical and mechanistic end‐points tested, with the institution of GLP‐1 therapy in hospital. We searched the PubMed, Embase, and Google scholar databases, combining the term 'glucagon‐like peptide 1' OR 'GLP‐1' OR 'incretin' OR 'liraglutide' OR 'exenatide' OR 'lixisenatide' OR 'dulaglutide' OR 'albiglutide' AND 'inpatient' OR 'hospital' OR 'perioperative' OR 'postoperative' OR 'surgery' OR 'myocardial infarction' OR 'stroke' OR 'cerebrovascular disease' OR 'transient ischaemic attack' OR 'ICU' OR 'critical care' OR 'critical illness' OR 'CCU' OR 'coronary care unit'.

Pilot studies were reported in the fields of acute stroke, cardiac resuscitation, coronary care and perioperative care that showed advantages for GLP‐1 therapy; with normalisation of glucose, lower glucose variability and lower risk of hypoglycaemia. Animal and human studies have reported improvements in myocardial performance when given acutely after vascular insult or surgery, but these have yet to be translated into randomised clinical trials.