Obesity therapy must be safe for patients, a vital element of the process. It was recently reported in the International Journal of Clinical Pharmacy that Abdulrahman Alsuhibani and his colleagues at the division of health outcomes analyzed adverse events associated with the usage of anti-obesity drugs.
Obesity Medication Side Effects Are Examined In A New Study
As Alsuhibani pointed out, even though the overall fatality rate of 4.9% is considered high, this study does not demonstrate causation but rather reveals where future research and monitoring may be necessary.
Obesity is known as the silent killer of health. Those who are obese have to face a lot of trouble in keeping themselves fit and healthy. They can be more at a threat of being diabetic or developing hypertension and other life-threatening issues. In most cases, those who are obese are also found diabetes. Hence people prefer to go for options with the help of which they can remove additional fat from the body, but these medicines are also not free from side effects.
The FDA’s Adverse Event Reporting System database from 2013 to 20 was analyzed by the research team. Every suspected side effect from an anti-obesity medicine should be reported to the system.
Fifteen thousand people receiving anti-obesity drugs were involved in more than 18 000 adverse events over seven years. Only 4.9 percent of adverse events recorded by patients were fatal, with 7.6 percent categorized as life-threatening incidents 35 percent of those requiring hospitalization, and 5.9 percent categorized as handicap cases according to the study.
“It is necessary to continue and systematically monitor the safety of anti-obesity medications to optimize patient anti-obesity therapy,” he said. “Observational studies do not show causality; however, it shows the hypothesis of using real-world data to try to show some connections and association.”
People who took anti-obesity drugs reported the most prevalent side effects, including nausea and vomiting. Also, there were reports of cardiovascular illness, kidney issues, and malignancy.
Orlistat is an over-the-counter anti-obesity medicine that has been linked to 4% of all adverse events, according to Alsuhibani. A more thorough inquiry into any fatalities linked to orlistat should be conducted; he said because it is the only anti-obesity medication available to people without a prescription.
We started the research due to the recall of various anti-obesity medications due to documented adverse effects, including the withdrawal of lorcaserin in February 2020 in light of reports that it may cause cancer.
Alsuhibani said the study that led to the removal of lorcaserin from the market had been questioned in the field due to several concerns with the researchers not completely releasing the evidence regarding the lorcaserin/cancer risk relationship. According to Alsuhibani’s research, 16% of all documented side effects associated with lorcaserin use were cancer-related.
Using data from 28 RCTs in 29 018 overweight and obese individuals, a systematic review was conducted to compare the weight reduction and adverse events associated with each treatment. There is a slew of interesting findings in this research. First, with intermediate confidence in estimates and at least a year of treatment, lorcaserin naltrexone-bupropion phentermine-topiramate and liraglutide all have better odds of weight reduction than placebo.
Secondly, when compared to all other active agents phentermine-topiramate had a higher likelihood of achieving weight loss of at least 5% and at least 10% than all other active agents with moderate confidence in estimates, and there was no difference in the odds of adverse event-related drug discontinuation between phentermine-topiramate liraglutide and naltrexone-bupropion. Liraglutide had higher odds of weight reduction of at least 5 percent and at least 10 percent with estimates of low to moderate confidence. Still, it was linked with higher probabilities of discontinuation owing to adverse events compared to orlistat lorcaserin and naltrexone-bupropion
