Research

Hormonal

Tirzepatide is associated with a significantly increased risk of composite gallbladder or biliary diseases (including cholelithiasis, cholecystitis, and other gallbladder disorders) compared to placebo or basal insulin, but not compared to GLP-1 RAs.

Tirzepatide increases the risk of gallbladder or biliary issues (like gallstones or inflammation) compared to placebos or insulin. However, this risk appears similar to other GLP-1 medications. Be aware of symptoms like abdominal pain and report them to your doctor promptly, as early detection is key.

GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
For gallbladder or biliary disease, the composite of gallbladder or biliary disease was significantly associated with tirzepatide compared with placebo or basal insulin (RR 1.97, [95% CI] 1.14 to 3.42; I2 = 0.0%, p = 0.558)... Compared with GLP1-RA, our analysis did not find a significant association between tirzepatide and the risk of... the composite of gallbladder or biliary diseases
Qingyue Zeng et al. · Frontiers in Endocrinology · 2023

Why this rating

Meta-analysis of 9 RCTs; significant finding with low heterogeneity (I2=0%), though the composite outcome aggregates distinct pathologies.

Source

Safety issues of tirzepatide (pancreatitis and gallbladder or biliary disease) in type 2 diabetes and obesity: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Qingyue Zeng et al. · Frontiers in Endocrinology · 2023

DOI 10.3389/fendo.2023.1214334

Meta-analysis · 9 studiesCited 62×
Read the paper
DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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