Just over half the adults without diabetes who started taking the GLP-1 semaglutide (Wegovy) for weight loss discontinued treatment within a year, with a marked drop-off in younger adults, according to a large nationwide study in Denmark.
Adults aged 18-30 yeas were nearly 50% more likely to discontinue treatment than those aged 45-60 years. Men and individuals with socioeconomic deprivation, higher levels of comorbidity, and prior use of gastrointestinal or psychiatric medications had a greater likelihood of stopping within the first year.
“We know that how these medications perform in real life can be very different from the controlled settings of clinical trials, in which patients are carefully selected and their treatment plans closely followed,” remarked Reimar W. Thomsen, MD, PhD, physician and clinical epidemiologist, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark, while speaking to Medscape Medical News. “Financial constraints and a predisposition to experiencing adverse effects seem to play a role in discontinuation [of semaglutide for weight loss].” He added that US data already suggest high discontinuation rates within the first year of semaglutide use for weight loss.
The researchers drew on Denmark’s nationwide health registries to estimate the likelihood of stopping semaglutide for weight loss in the first year and to explore baseline predictors of discontinuation in adults without diabetes, adjusted for age and sex. The study included 77,310 adults who initiated semaglutide between December 2022 and October 2023. Median age was 50 years, and 71% were women.
To find out more, CLICK HERE.
