CHICAGO, IL-The New York Timesย (12/21,ย Span) reports on an increasing number of โolder 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.
โ A recentย studyย published in JAMA Cardiology โfound that among Americans over 65 with diabetes, about 60% discontinued semaglutide within a year.โ Anotherย studyย published in JAMA Network Open this year found that โpatients over age 65 were 20 to 30% more likely than younger ones to discontinue the drugs and less likely to return to them.โ
According to the Times, โsome patients find that medication-induced weight loss lessens rather than improves fitness, because another side effect is muscle loss.
โ Additionally, โthe high rate of GLP-1 discontinuation may also reflect shortages; from 2022 to 2024, these drugs temporarily became hard to find.โ
Media Release/AMA Morning Rounds
