Weight-loss medicines such as Ozempic might raise a person’s likelihood of developing conditions including arthritis
Risk assessment
The study focused on GLP-1 receptor agonists, including semaglutide, which is sold as Ozempic to treat diabetes and is now widely prescribed for weight loss.
“No one had comprehensively investigated the effectiveness and risks of GLP-1 receptor agonists across all possible health outcomes,” says Ziyad Al-Aly, a physician-scientist at the Veterans Affairs St. Louis Health Care System in Missouri, who led the work.
Over about 3.5 years, Al-Aly and his colleagues followed more than 200,000 people with diabetes who were on GLP-1 drugs and about 1.7 million people with diabetes using other blood-sugar-lowering medications. They tracked the effects of GLP-1 drugs on 175 health conditions.
Compared with other diabetes medications, GLP-1 drugs were linked to a lower risk of dozens of conditions, including heart disease, stroke and kidney disease. They also lowered the risk of psychotic disorders by 18%, Alzheimer’s disease by 12% and addiction disorders by an average of 13%.
