This random-effects meta-analysis pooled eight randomised trials of GLP-1 receptor agonists in 535 adults taking antipsychotics. Treatment reduced body weight by 6.54 kg, BMI by 2.34 kg/m², HbA1c by 0.32% and waist circumference by 5.22 cm. LDL-C fell by 0.16 mmol/L, but total cholesterol, triglycerides and HDL-C did not change significantly. Weight loss was greatest with semaglutide, then liraglutide, and grew with longer treatment. Nausea, vomiting and constipation were more common; serious adverse events and discontinuation did not differ significantly. Heterogeneity was high for body weight (I² 92%) and BMI (I² 85%), and psychiatric adverse events could not be pooled.
Why it is interesting: Antipsychotic-related weight gain and metabolic dysregulation are common in severe mental illness. This review pools the randomised evidence for GLP-1 drugs in that group specifically.
Cite this item
BibTeX
Free sign-up. A digest of the new papers twice a week, grouped by domain.
Other drivers in Health today
-
Cancer
Where is cancer incidence rising and falling, what screening and new tests find earlier, and what treatment has done to survival.
6 this week -
Obesity, diabetes and GLP-1
Are obesity and diabetes still rising, what behavioural change and public policy do, and what difference do GLP-1s and other similar drugs make.
9 this week -
Heart and stroke
Whether deaths from heart disease and stroke have stopped falling, what is found earlier, what treatment and prevention do now, and what the deaths say.
6 this week -
Mental health
Deaths by suicide, the life expectancy gap in severe mental illness, and the physical disease that follows it: what mental illness costs in lives.
2 this week -
Dementia
Whether dementia is becoming more or less common, what is now found, what treatment and prevention do, and what the deaths say.
4 this week -
Frailty and multimorbidity
Whether the years added after 85 are healthy ones, how frailty and multiple conditions are measured, and where the data run out.
2 this week
