Roughly half of the sufferers have been taking GLP-1 medication, and 1,776 of them have been receiving the newer, simpler medication semaglutide, bought as Ozempic and Wegovy by Novo Nordisk, and tirzepatide, bought as Mounjaro and Zepbound by Eli Lilly | Picture for show functions solely | Picture by Brendan McDiarmid
When sufferers cease taking weight-loss medication, the medication’ helpful results on weight and different well being issues disappear inside two years, a big evaluation of early research discovered.
Researchers checked out knowledge from 9,341 overweight or chubby sufferers handled in 37 research utilizing one in every of 18 totally different weight reduction medication and located that they regained, on common, almost 1 pound (0.4 kg) monthly after stopping the drug, and have been anticipated to return to their pre-treatment weight by 1.7 years.
reported that coronary heart well being threat components that benefited from the drug, akin to blood stress and levels of cholesterol, are anticipated to return to pre-treatment ranges inside a median of 1.4 years after drug discontinuation. BMJ.
About half of the sufferers have been taking GLP-1 medication, together with 1,776 individuals who acquired the newer, simpler medication semaglutide, bought by Novo Nordisk as Ozempic and Wegovy, and tirzepatide, bought by Eli Lilly and Co. as Mounjaro and Zepbound.
Weight regain was sooner with semaglutide and tirzepatide, with a median acquire of almost 1.8 kilos (0.8 kg) monthly.
“However as a result of individuals who take semaglutide or tirzepatide lose extra weight within the first place, all of them find yourself returning to baseline at about the identical time,” stated examine lead researcher Dimitrios Koutoukidis from the College of Oxford. This was roughly 1.5 years with these new medication, in comparison with 1.7 years if both drug was discontinued.
The researchers additionally discovered that, whatever the weight misplaced, month-to-month weight regain was sooner after utilizing weight reduction medication than after a behavioral weight administration program.
Retrospective research couldn’t decide whether or not some sufferers have been extra prone to keep weight reduction than others.
“Understanding who works and who does not is a little bit of a ‘holy grail’ query in weight reduction analysis, and nobody has a solution to it but,” Koutoukidis stated.
