Published online Sep 20, 2024. doi: 10.5662/wjm.v14.i3.91832
Revised: January 29, 2024
Accepted: March 1, 2024
Published online: September 20, 2024
Processing time: 170 Days and 19.1 Hours
Diabesity, diabetes as a consequence of obesity, is a huge healthcare challenge across the globe and judicious use of antidiabetic medications like semaglutide is important for the optimal management as shown in randomized controlled trials (RCTs).
Real-world data on management of diabesity with semaglutide are also crucial for appropriate clinical practice decision making.
We aimed to study the real-world benefits and side effect profile of using semaglutide to manage patients with diabesity.
In a retrospective study, we evaluated the efficacy and safety of semaglutide for managing patients with diabesity bet
Among 106 patients (56 males) with T2DM with a mean age and diabetes duration 60.8 ± 11.2 years, 12.4 ± 7.2 years respectively treated with semaglutide for a mean 2.6 ± 1.1 years, significant improvements in diabesity outcomes such as a mean weight reduction of 12.3% and HbA1c reduction of 13.7% from baseline at the latest follow-up period were observed. A mean insulin dose reduction of 19.5% from baseline was also observed at the latest follow-up as an additional benefit of semaglutide treatment. Mild gastrointestinal side effects like bloating and nausea, improving with prolonged use of semaglutide were also observed in this study.
As RCTs are performed in strictly controlled research environments, the results may not always reflect patient outcomes of real-world clinical practice settings. Reviews of large-scale cohort data from real-world settings as in our study would inform better clinical practice decision making to improve the care of patients with diabesity.
Significant improvements in diabesity outcomes such as reductions in body weight, HbA1c, and insulin doses were observed with semaglutide treatment, without major adverse effects in a real-world clinical practice setting.