Unless you live under a rock, you have likely heard about Ozempic. Originally approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2017 as a treatment for type 2 diabetes, Ozempic is becoming widely used for weight loss by Hollywood stars and other famous people.
UC Davis Health describes Ozempic as “a weekly injection that helps lower blood sugar by helping the pancreas make more insulin,” noting that “it is not approved for weight loss, but some physicians prescribe it to be used for weight loss.”
“Ozempic works by mimicking a naturally occurring hormone. As those hormone levels rise, the molecules go to your brain, telling it you’re full. It also slows digestion by increasing the time it takes for food to leave the body.” UC Davis Health also states.
Many people use Ozempic or Ozempic-style drugs and even more people seem to be curious about it. But are they safe? Findings from one of the most comprehensive studies focusing on Ozempic and Ozempic-style drugs (GLP-1RAs) were recently released which help provide some valuable insight. The study was conducted by a team of researchers affiliated with various health institutions in Missouri, and their findings were published in the journal Nature Medicine.
“Weight-loss drugs like Ozempic may decrease your risk of developing 42 health conditions, but increase your chance of experiencing 19 others, according to one of the most comprehensive studies-of-its-kind to date.” wrote LiveScience about the results of the recent study. The authors describe the study as providing the “clearest ever picture of the effectiveness and risks associated” with the drugs.
The study, which relied on data obtained from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, assessed the health impact of Ozempic-style drugs on 215,000 subjects diagnosed with type 2 diabetes over a period of roughly four years. The results for the population of 215,000 subjects were compared to the results of a control group of over one million subjects who received different types of anti-diabetic drugs.
“Overall, the researchers found that GLP-1RAs have many beneficial effects, some of which were previously recognized. For instance, those who took GLP-1RAs had a 9%, 8% and 12% reduced risk of having a heart attack, deep vein thrombosis and Alzheimer’s, respectively, compared to controls. They were also less likely to develop substance-use disorders, including alcohol-use disorders and cannabis-use disorders (both an 11% lower risk), as well as having a 12% lower risk of experiencing bacterial infections.” LiveScience stated about the results of the comparison.
“However, these benefits did not come without risks, the researchers observed. For example, GLP-1RAs also increased people’s odds of developing gastrointestinal issues such as abdominal pain (12%), plus low blood pressure (6% higher risk) and arthritis (11% higher risk).” the authors stated about potential side effects.
“This study has several strengths. We used data from the US Department of Veterans Affairs, which integrates information from multiple data streams, including healthcare encounters (both inpatient and outpatient), diagnostic codes, laboratory test results, vital signs, medication use, sociodemographic data and data on the use of supportive and rehabilitative services. The US Department of Veterans Affairs offers comprehensive medical coverage, including prescription drug benefits, to all US veterans, so this approach reduced the likelihood that the choice of antihyperglycemic medication was influenced by the financial status of the patient. We conducted a systematic evaluation of the effectiveness and risks of GLP-1RA use in 175 health outcomes that could be plausibly impacted by GLP-1RA use in adults. We used an incident-user design and provide an atlas of head-to-head pairwise comparisons of GLP-1RAs versus three commonly used active comparators, a control composite of the three active comparators and a control representing usual care. We tested both positive and negative outcome controls to assess the presence of potential spurious biases.” the researchers who conducted the study stated about their investigation.
“Limitations of this study included using US veterans who are older, mostly white males, which may not represent the general population and could limit the generalizability of the results. This may be particularly true because the health effects of GLP-1RA use may vary across age, race, ethnicity and sex. However, due to the large size of our cohort, the study included 1,032,192 (5.28%) women; 30,846 (1.58%), 135,090 (6.91%) and 419,728 (21.47%) people aged less than 40, 50 and 60 years, respectively; and 357,228 (18.46%) and 201,123 (10.40%) individuals who identified as being of Black race or a race other than Black or white, respectively.” the researchers stated about their study’s limitations.
“Altogether, our discovery approach confirms previous studies and clinical trials and also uncovers previously unreported benefits and risks of GLP-1RAs. The results may be useful for informing clinical care, enhancing pharmacovigilance and guiding the development of mechanistic and clinical research to evaluate the broad pleiotropic effects of GLP-1RAs.” the researchers concluded.
Ultimately, and this is true of any medical treatment, you need to consult with your doctor to see if Ozempic or Ozempic-style drugs are the right move for your situation and needs. Your doctor will help you consider the benefits and potential issues of using Ozempic or Ozempic-style drugs.
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