GLP-1 agonists induce weight loss in diabetic patients with obesity

Initiation of a glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) agonist at standard glycaemic control doses may result in modest weight loss through 72 weeks in patients with overweight or obesity and type 2 diabetes, suggest the results of a real-world study.

Weight loss achieved with standard doses of GLP-1 agonists among real-world patients with type 2 diabetes has not been previously validated. To address this, a team of investigators conducted this retrospective cohort study to describe the percent change in body weight 72 weeks following initiation of GLP-1 agonist.

Electronic health record data from patients receiving care at a large health system were used to identify participants. A total of 2,405 nonpregnant adults (mean age 48 years, 53 percent female) who were first dispensed a GLP-1 agonist between 2011 and 2018 were included.

The investigators used linear mixed models, with a person-level random intercept controlling for baseline variables associated with missing weight data, to estimate percent body weight change during follow-up.

Eligible participants had a mean body mass index of 37 kg/m² and a mean baseline weight of 238 lbs. The mean percent weight loss significantly increased from 1.1 percent (95 percent confidence interval [CI], 0.6‒1.5) 8 weeks after GLP-1 agonist dispensing to 2.2 percent (95 percent CI, 1.7‒2.6) 72 weeks after GLP-1 administration (p<0.001 for quadratic trend).

Most notably, a third of the patients lost at least 5 percent of body weight at 72 weeks.