Research
Hormonal
Older adults may experience higher rates of adverse events and treatment intolerance with AOMs compared to younger adults, particularly gastrointestinal issues and risks related to dehydration and falls.
Be aware that older adults may experience more side effects from weight loss medications, such as nausea or dizziness. This can lead to dehydration or falls. It is important to work closely with a doctor to manage these side effects.
ModerateQualifiesLOW confidence
One retrospective cohort study found that intolerance to therapy was noted by 15.4% of older adults taking phentermine-topiramate extended release, 40% of older adults taking naltrexone-bupropion... These reported rates were higher than treatment discontinuation due to adverse events in clinical trials of the same medications.
Why this rating
Based on limited observational data and secondary analyses; risk of bias is a concern.
Source
Efficacy of antiobesity medications for weight reduction in older adults: a systematic review
Alissa S. Chen et al. · Obesity · 2024
DOI 10.1002/oby.24160
systematic_reviewCited 2×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
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