GLP-1 RAs safe, effective in patients with weight regain after bariatric surgery

Use of glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist (GLP-1 RA) among adults with weight regain after metabolic and bariatric surgery (MBS) results in greater weight loss without compromising safety, according to a study.

Among patients who had at least 10-percent weight recurrence, 68 users of GLP-1 RA and 131 nonusers were included at 6 months and 72 users and 139 nonusers at 12 months.

Individuals exposed to GLP-1 RA achieved significantly greater weight loss at 6 months (9.6 percent vs 4.3 percent; p=0.005) and 12 months (14.8 percent vs 8.1 percent; p=0.017) without increasing the risk of adverse events at both time points.

“These findings suggest that GLP-1 RAs are effective and safe … for managing clinically significant weight recurrence following MBS and support the need for prospective studies to confirm these observations across diverse patient populations and bariatric procedure types,” the authors said

This retrospective new-user cohort study was conducted among adults with ≥10-percent post-MBS weight recurrence using OneFlorida+ Data Trust (2015‒2024). GLP-1 RA users were matched to nonusers based on BMI and timing of clinical encounter. Index date was defined as GLP-1 RA initiation for users and a matched reference date for nonusers.

The authors further controlled for confounding using inverse probability of treatment weighting. They measured effectiveness as percentage of recurrence weight lost at 6 and 12 months. Safety outcomes were gastrointestinal and post-MBS adverse events.