The risks of ‘miracle’ weight loss jabs such as Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro have been laid bare by a landmark study involving more than two million patients.
Worryingly, researchers have found that those using the jabs have double the risk of pancreatitis, a potentially life-threating swelling of the pancreas gland.
A third suffer nausea or vomiting and there is an 11 per cent higher risk of developing arthritis, the experts also discovered.
While the benefits are wide-ranging and significant, the side effects can be ‘quite severe’ and ‘need to be recognised’, they warned.
The findings come after patients suffering serious reactions to weight-loss drugs with numbers surged with more than 120 hospitalised in the last month alone.
For the new research, a team from Washington University, analysed data on more than 215,000 individuals who were taking the drugs for diabetes.
These were compared to more than two million people who were taking traditional medication to lower blood sugar levels.
They found that those taking the popular weight loss drugs, also known as glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RAs), had a lower risk of stroke, a heart attack, substance use disorders and seizures.
The risks of ‘miracle’ weight loss jabs such as Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro have been laid bare by a landmark study involving more than two million patients
The jabs were even linked to a reduced risk of developing dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.
However, their use was also associated with an increased risk of a range of other health conditions.
Analysis revealed that over 3.5 years, those using the drugs had an 11 per cent higher risk of developing arthritis, a 30 per cent higher risk of nausea and vomiting, a 10 per cent higher risk of headaches and 12 per cent increased chance of sleep disturbances.
The jabs were also associated with a doubled risk of drug-induced acute pancreatitis – a sudden inflammation of the pancreas, which is a small organ that helps with digestion.
Symptoms can include suddenly getting severe pain in the centre of the tummy, feeling or being sick and a high temperature of 38C or more.
Most people with the condition start to feel better within a week but some people can go on to develop serious complications such as infection, sepsis, organ failure and internal bleeding.
The researchers said they have seen ‘skyrocketing’ use of the jabs over the past years but this is the first comprehensive analysis which looked at 175 possible health-related effects.
And while they have a ‘wide array’ of beneficial effects, they are ‘not without risks’, they said.
Writing in the journal Nature Medicine they revealed that other ‘adverse events’ linked to the jabs included a higher risk of low blood pressure, fainting, tendinitis and kidney stones.
The team said these adverse side-effects should be further evaluated in future studies.
‘Some side effects could be mild, but some are quite severe and quite significant and they need to be recognised,’ lead author Ziyad Al-Aly said.
‘We focus a lot on the beneficial effects but… it’s important to note that these medications are not without side effects.’
Experts not involved in the study said that overall, the findings are reassuring when it comes to weighing up the possible benefits compared to risk of using the drugs long-term.
But they said future studies of people treated with these drugs for obesity, without accompanying diabetes, are needed.
Commenting on the study Professor Sir Stephen O’Rahilly, from the University of Cambridge, said: ‘The most surprising finding is an increase in a range of symptoms relating to joint pain.
‘It is possible that the increased physical activity that is made possible when people lose substantial amounts of weight could result in the appearance of joint symptoms that were previously masked by inactivity.’
Professor Naveed Sattar, from the University of Glasgow, said the findings were ‘interesting’ but added that they ‘fall well below the level’ of evidence that comes from randomised trials — when people are randomly allocated to received different treatments.
Yesterday, MailOnline revealed hundreds of people are being hospitalised after suffering serious reactions to weight-loss drugs with numbers surging by 46 per cent in just one month.
An investigation uncovered the latest figures from the medicines regulator, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), which shows nearly 400 people have required hospital treatment — some with life-threatening complications — since the rollout of jabs such as Wegovy, Mounjaro, and Saxenda.
Until October last year, the number of hospitalisations over the six years since the drugs first began to be prescribed stood at 279.
