Research

Hormonal

Semaglutide is associated with a significantly higher reporting odds ratio for gastrointestinal adverse drug reactions (GADRs) compared to liraglutide, with a later median time-to-onset (7 days vs 4 days).

If you are considering GLP-1 weight loss drugs, know that semaglutide is associated with a higher reporting rate of stomach issues (nausea, vomiting, etc.) and a later onset of these symptoms compared to liraglutide. To minimize side effects, insist on a slow dose titration starting at the lowest dose. If semaglutide causes intolerable side effects, discuss switching to liraglutide, which may have a different gastrointestinal risk profile.

ModerateSupportsMEDIUM confidence
semaglutide had a higher pooled ROR and later pooled time-to-onset median of GADRs compared with those of liraglutide (5.53, 95% CI 5.23–5.85 vs 3.95, 95% CI 3.81–4.10; 7 days, Q1–Q3: 0–48 vs 4 days, Q1–Q3: 0–34.5).
Yu Zhou et al. · Diabetes Metabolic Syndrome and Obesity · 2022

Why this rating

Real-world pharmacovigilance (FAERS) data is observational and subject to reporting bias, lacking a denominator for prevalence calculation.

Source

Difference in Gastrointestinal Risk Associated with Use of GLP-1 Receptor Agonists: A Real-World Pharmacovigilance Study

Yu Zhou et al. · Diabetes Metabolic Syndrome and Obesity · 2022

DOI 10.2147/dmso.s348025

cross_sectional · n=6222Cited 42×
Read the paper
DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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