Obesity

Patient adherence to semaglutide, newer weight loss drugs exceeds older medications

December 8, 2023

In this retrospective cohort study, researchers used electronic health records to identify adults with a BMI ≥30 kg/m^2 who had an initial antiobesity medication (AOM) filled between 2015 and 2022. They found that later-stage persistence with AOM varied considerably based on the drug and the weight loss at six months. Patients' adherence to semaglutide for obesity was higher compared with previous weight-loss drugs, including naltrexone-bupropion (Contrave) and phentermine-topiramate (Qsymia).

• 1,911 adults with a median baseline BMI of 38 were included.
• The highest 1-year persistence was in patients receiving semaglutide (40%).
• Semaglutide (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 4.26, 95% confidence interval (CI): 3.04-6.05) was associated with higher odds of 1-year persistence, and naltrexone-bupropion (AOR = 0.68, 95% CI: 0.46-1.00) was associated with lower odds, compared with phentermine-topiramate.
• Among patients who were persistent at 6 months, a 1% increase in weight loss at 6 months was associated with 6% increased odds of persistence at year 1 (AOR = 1.06, 95% CI: 1.03-1.09).

Source:

Gasoyan H, et al. (2023, December 6). Obesity (Silver Spring). Early- and later-stage persistence with antiobesity medications: A retrospective cohort study. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38053443/