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Sufferers pharmaceuticals to assist them drop some pounds could expertise a rebound in weight acquire after halting their prescription, finds a meta-analysis printed in BMC Drugs.
The examine, which analyzes knowledge for sufferers receiving weight reduction medication throughout 11 randomized trials, means that whereas the quantity of weight regain varies relying on the particular drug, there’s a broad development in related weight regain after the course of remedy concluded.
Six anti-obesity drugs (AOMs) have been authorised by the US FDA to be used in aiding with weight reduction, together with orlistat, phentermine-topiramate, and semaglutide. Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1)—a therapeutic developed to help with diabetes—has additionally more and more been prescribed to assist sufferers drop some pounds. Nonetheless, current research have advised that sufferers prescribed AOMs could regain weight within the months after stopping taking these drugs.
Xiaoling Cai, Linong Ji, and colleagues carried out a meta-analysis of 11 research from all over the world investigating weight change in sufferers after they stopped taking AOMs.
General, the authors analyzed knowledge from 1,574 individuals in remedy teams and 893 in management teams. Weight change was measured by modifications in physique weight and BMI after stopping remedy.
Of the 11 research included within the meta-analysis, six centered on GLP-1 receptor agonists (RAs); one centered on GLP-1 and GLP twin Ras; one examine centered on orlistat; two research on phentermine-topiramate; and one examine on naltrexone-bupropion.
The authors managed for various contributing components, together with remedy sort, the presence of diabetes, and the presence or absence of life-style modifications like food regimen or train.
Their evaluation discovered that AOMs had been related to important weight reduction whereas getting used, adopted by weight regain beginning eight weeks after AOM discontinuation, with weight regain then persevering with for a mean of 20 weeks earlier than plateauing.
Weight regain diverse with follow-up, with examine individuals experiencing important durations of weight regain at eight, 12, and 20 weeks after AOM discontinuation.
The quantity of weight regained relied on a number of components, together with the kind of remedy taken by individuals and the consistency of their life-style change. For instance, individuals who accomplished a 36-week remedy with tirzepatide, a commercially obtainable GLP-1 RA, regained virtually half the load beforehand misplaced after switching to a placebo.
The authors word the meta-analysis didn’t embrace research of life-style interventions and bariatric surgical procedure, decreasing the diploma to which completely different weight reduction approaches could possibly be in contrast throughout the context of the examine.
Additionally they word that weight regain has been reported with different weight reduction strategies, reminiscent of gastric bypass and vertical banded gastroplasty.
Extra info:
Xiaoling Cai, Trajectory of the physique weight after drug discontinuation within the remedy of anti‑weight problems drugs, BMC Drugs (2025). DOI: 10.1186/s12916-025-04200-0. www.biomedcentral.com/articles … 6/s12916-025-04200-0
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Anti-obesity drugs related to weight rebound post-treatment (2025, July 21)
retrieved 21 July 2025
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