CHICAGO, IL-The New York Times (12/21, Span) reports on an increasing number of “older adults who begin taking GLP-1s and related drugs…and then stop taking them within months.
That usually means regaining weight and losing the associated health benefits, including lower blood pressure, cholesterol and A1c.
” A recent study published in JAMA Cardiology “found that among Americans over 65 with diabetes, about 60% discontinued semaglutide within a year.” Another study published in JAMA Network Open this year found that “patients over age 65 were 20 to 30% more likely than younger ones to discontinue the drugs and less likely to return to them.”
According to the Times, “some patients find that medication-induced weight loss lessens rather than improves fitness, because another side effect is muscle loss.
” Additionally, “the high rate of GLP-1 discontinuation may also reflect shortages; from 2022 to 2024, these drugs temporarily became hard to find.”
Media Release/AMA Morning Rounds
