Ann Intern Med

How often does semaglutide land patients in the ED?

April 15, 2025

Data from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System–Cooperative Adverse Drug Event Surveillance (NEISS-CADES) project were used to identify cases of emergency department (ED) visits that clinicians attributed to semaglutide adverse events among adults ≥18 years of age between January 2022 and December 2023, the two years after FDA approved semaglutide for weight loss.

Key results

• There were an estimated 24,499 ED visits attributed to semaglutide in 2022 through 2023. Of these, 82.6% were reported in 2023.
• Mean patient age was 50.9 years, and 73.2% of patients were female.
• Semaglutide was often the only medication implicated (81.7%) and was nearly always in injectable form (94.0%); 9.0% of visits involved medication errors.
• ED visits most commonly involved GI effects (69.3%), hypoglycemia (16.5%), and allergic reactions (5.5%). The most common GI complaints were nausea/vomiting (57.6%), abdominal pain (25.1%), and diarrhea (12.2%).
• Hospitalization was required in 37.6% of ED visits for hypoglycemia and 15.0% for GI effects. Six patients (1.1%) were diagnosed with pancreatitis and 4 patients (0.7%) were diagnosed with biliary disease attributable to semaglutide.
• Of 111 cases involving hypoglycemia, semaglutide was implicated alone, without other documented antidiabetic medications, in 21 cases (18.9%).
• The estimated 20,226 ED visits in 2023 translates to a rate of fewer than four ED visits for adverse events per 1,000 patients who were dispensed semaglutide.

Conclusions

Authors suggest that clinicians counsel patients when initiating semaglutide about the potential for GI adverse effects and adjust concurrent antidiabetic medications to decrease hypoglycemia risk.

Source:

Lovegrove MC, et al. (2025, April 8). Ann Intern Med. U.S. Emergency Department Visits Attributed by Clinicians to Semaglutide Adverse Events, 2022-2023. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40194288/