Research
Hormonal
GLP-1 receptor agonists (liraglutide, semaglutide) and dual GIP/GLP-1 agonists (tirzepatide) produce significant weight loss (15-23%) and should be considered for patients with higher weight-loss goals or specific comorbidities like MASH or severe OSA.
If you have obesity and related health issues like sleep apnea or fatty liver, your doctor might recommend injectable medications like semaglutide or tirzepatide. These can lead to significant weight loss (15-23%) when combined with lifestyle changes. Discuss the pros and cons of injectable vs. oral options with your provider.
StrongSupportsHIGH confidence
For these patients, obesity medication such as weekly injectable semaglutide or tirzepatide that produce 17% to 23% reductions in body weight may be more appropriate.
Why this rating
Based on multiple RCTs cited in the review.
Source
Obesity: assessment and treatment across the care continuum
Robert F. Kushner et al. · Annals of Medicine · 2025
DOI 10.1080/07853890.2025.2521433
narrative_reviewCited 4×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Obesity is a chronic disease of dysregulated energy balance involving neuroendocrine factors, requiring lifelong, multimodal management (lifestyle, pharmacotherapy, surgery) tailored to individual patient characteristics and evolving goals.Strong
- Discontinuation of obesity medications leads to weight regain and reversal of cardiometabolic improvements, necessitating long-term treatment.Strong
Related findings · Hormonal
- Initial treatment for type 2 diabetes should be a combination of metformin and either an SGLT-2 inhibitor or a GLP-1 receptor agonist to achieve cardiorenal protection, rather than monotherapy or older agents like sulfonylureas.Strong
- For patients with specific monogenic obesity syndromes (leptin deficiency, POMC/PCSK1/LEPR mutations), targeted pharmacotherapy (recombinant leptin or setmelanotide) is highly effective and should be prioritized, unlike in polygenic obesity.Strong
- Continued weekly administration of 2.4 mg subcutaneous semaglutide prevents weight regain and promotes further weight loss in adults with overweight or obesity, whereas switching to placebo results in significant weight regain.Strong
This is one finding among thousands. Every one is graded and traced to its source, so you can see what the evidence actually supports. Browse the research →