Stopping GLP-1 drugs could increase heart attack risk for some, study says

Detailed summary

The study showed those considered medically obese showed an even higher risk when they stopped using the drug, than those considered a normal weight.

Stopping treatment of type 2 diabetes with GLP-1 weight loss medications may lead to a doubled risk of heart attack, stroke or death, a new study shows.

The study, published Monday in the Lancet Regional Health Europe, looked at more than 80,000 Italians with type 2 diabetes and no established heart disease. Data was collected between 2004 and 2024.

Researchers found four in every 100 of those people a year who stopped taking GLP-1 treatments had a non-fatal heart attack or stroke, or died, compared to about two in 100 of the people who stayed on the medication.

Those with a body mass index of 30 or more, people considered medically obese, also showed a higher risk among those who stopped treatment than those under that BMI range.

Of the more than 80,000 people who started GLP-1s, those who stayed on treatment did so for about three years. The group that did not stay on treatment, about 60 per cent, is reported to have stopped use after about one year.

But while the study raises questions about what factors could be behind that increase for some, researchers caution that as an observational study there are certain factors they couldn’t determine.

An analysis by the British Medical Journal notes the study could not determine if discontinuing GLP-1 drugs directly caused the increased risk, or if people who experienced a higher risk of health events were already in poorer health.

The BMJ also cautioned the study did not analyze why people stopped taking the drugs, such as potential gastrointestinal side effects, the high cost some drugs have, or potential illnesses. Some patients may have stopped because they were already in poor health, the journal added.

Dr. Christopher Labos, cardiologist and epidemiologist at McGill University, stressed the Lancet study compared two groups of diabetic patients.

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