Side effects of GLP-1 receptor agonists
Caution is needed until the harms are better understood Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists have emerged as a promising treatment for obesity and diabetes. Over the past few years, recognition has grown of their transformational potential for the more than one billion people living with obesity and over 800 million with diabetes globally.12 However, appreciation of the risks is critical to inform evidence based discussions. The potential harms associated with GLP-1 receptor agonists can be broadly categorised into those that are well known, rare events in which the causal association is weaker or uncertain, and emerging side effects or those with hypothesised links that are still being investigated. The most common and well known side effects include nausea, vomiting, constipation, and diarrhoea, which occur in up to 40% of people taking GLP-1 drugs.3 These side effects can make more than one in 10 patients interrupt treatment.4 Patients sometimes attribute loss of appeti
