New Weight-Loss Drugs Are Sending a Surprising Number of Americans to the Emergency Room

Semaglutide, the progressive constituent successful fashionable drugs Ozempic and Wegovy, isn’t without its risks. A caller survey has recovered that tens of thousands of Americans person ended up successful the exigency country from taking semaglutide implicit the past fewer years.

Scientists from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention led the research, published this period successful Annals of Internal Medicine. Based connected nationalist surveillance data, the researchers estimation that semaglutide contributed to astir 25,000 ER visits betwixt 2022 and 2023, usually from gastrointestinal complications. The findings suggest that doctors tin bash much to mitigate the perchance terrible broadside effects of these drugs, the researchers say.

Semaglutide and akin drugs mimic GLP-1, 1 of respective hormones that play a cardinal relation successful regulating our metabolism and hunger. GLP-1 drugs person existed for implicit 2 decades, but semaglutide is portion of a newer and much effectual generation. It was archetypal approved successful 2017 to dainty benignant 2 diabetes nether the marque sanction Ozempic. In 2021, it was approved to dainty obesity nether the marque sanction Wegovy. Since then, doctors person besides commonly prescribed Ozempic off-label for value loss.

Every cause comes with its broadside effects, however. People taking GLP-1s commonly acquisition nausea, diarrhea, and different GI symptoms. Usually, these broadside effects are mild and/or thin to diminution implicit time. But successful immoderate cases, they tin go superior capable to warrant exigency aesculapian care.

The CDC researchers analyzed information from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System-Cooperative Adverse Drug Event Surveillance Project (NEISS-CADES), which keeps way of drug-related adverse events reported to a nationally typical illustration of exigency departments successful the U.S.

Based connected 551 documented cases, the researchers estimated that 24,499 ER visits were attributable to semaglutide usage betwixt 2022 and 2023. Nearly 70% of these visits progressive GI symptoms, portion astir 17% progressive hypoglycemia (low humor sugar), and astir 6% represented allergic reactions. About a 3rd of hypoglycemia-related visits led to hospitalization, arsenic did 15% of GI-related visits.

The findings should beryllium taken successful immoderate context. Many drugs tin origin broadside effects that could effect successful an ER visit, including communal over-the-counter medications. In a 2021 survey from galore of the aforesaid authors, they recovered that roughly 1 successful 200 Americans sojourn the ER each twelvemonth owed to medication-related harms, for instance, with two-thirds caused by therapeutic usage (meaning that the drugs were taken to dainty a aesculapian problem, not recreationally). A 2022 survey by the aforesaid squad estimated that OTC cough oregon acold medications origin astir 27,000 ER visits successful the U.S. annually.

But the results of this latest survey shouldn’t beryllium minimized either. More than 82% of the ER visits happened successful 2023, suggesting that arsenic semaglutide usage has surged, truthful person its imaginable harms. About 9% of the visits progressive medicine errors, specified arsenic radical taking much than instructed. So we mightiness beryllium capable to forestall immoderate ER visits with amended diligent education. In different cases, doctors could little their patients’ hazard of superior complications by amended managing their usage of different medications, and astatine the precise least, they tin astir apt bash much to hole their patients successful beforehand earlier starting GLP-1 therapy, the researchers argue.

“Clinicians could counsel patients erstwhile initiating semaglutide astir the imaginable for severe gastrointestinal adverse effects and set co-prescribed antidiabetic medications to alteration hypoglycemia risk,” the authors wrote.