Millions of people use weight loss drugs – but half of patients stop taking them within one year, according to a new analysis.
Popular anti-obesity and diabetes medicines such as Ozempic and Wegovy are part of a class of drugs known as glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists, which help people lose weight by mimicking a hormone that reduces their appetite.
If people stop taking the drugs, though, they often regain the weight, prompting public debate over whether they may need to be taken for life.
For the new study, Danish researchers analysed data from more than 77,000 people who took anti-obesity drugs and did not have diabetes.
They found that 52 per cent of these people stopped taking the drugs within 12 months. Among them, 18 per cent stopped within three months, 31 per cent stopped within six months, and 42 per cent quit after nine months.
“This level of dropoff is concerning because these medications aren’t meant to be a temporary quick fix,” said Reimar W. Thomsen, one of the study’s authors and a professor of metabolic disease epidemiology at Aarhus University in Denmark.
“For them to work effectively, they need to be taken long term,” Thomsen added in a statement. “All of the beneficial effects on appetite control are lost if the medication is stopped”.
People were more likely to quit the drugs if they were poorer, younger, male, had chronic health issues, or had previously used gastrointestinal or psychiatric medications, which may indicate that they experienced unpleasant side effects such as nausea or vomiting, the researchers said.
Adults under the age of 30 were 48 per cent more likely to stop treatment within the first year compared with those aged 45 to 59, the analysis found. People living in low-income areas were 14 per cent more likely to quit than those in more affluent areas.
That suggests the drugs’ price point could be making it harder for people to continue accessing them, the researchers said.
In Denmark, a month’s supply of Ozempic – which isn’t typically covered by the government unless a patient has type 2 diabetes – costs up to €313, compared with about €120 in neighbouring Germany.
The findings, which have not yet been published in a medical journal, will be presented at the annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes in Vienna this week.
Thomsen said the results suggest more should be done to support patients who could benefit from these medications, given they have been shown to lower the risk of health issues as wide-ranging as heart disease, addiction, and cancer.
“With over half of adults in Europe living with overweight or obesity, understanding who may benefit most from interventions that encourage adherence is essential to improving treatment use and subsequent health outcomes and quality of life,” Thomsen said.