GLP-1 drugs linked to lower rates of some cancers
July 16, 2024
Source: Wang, et al, JAMA Network Open, July 5, 2024 LINK
Obesity is associated with increased risk of multiple cancers, including breast cancer, colorectal cancer, and endometrial cancer. So, drugs that lead to substantial weight loss could be associated with a decrease in incidence of these obesity-related cancers.
Researchers used a database of deidentified electronic health records of 1.65 million people with diabetes from 2005 to 2018 and followed them for as long as 15 years. Of these, around 150,000 were treated with GLP-1 drugs, and around 1.5 million were treated with insulin. This study was prior to the use of GLP-1 drugs for obesity, so these findings are applicable to people with diabetes.
The results appear impressive. The researchers found statistically significant lower rates for 10 of the 14 cancers, and no significant increase in any cancer. I have omitted gallbladder cancer and meningioma, where there were statistically significantly fewer cancers in the population on GLP-1 drugs, but there were few cancers, so the confidence interval was large. A limitation of this study is that the time and weight loss on GLP-1s is unknown.
Implication for employers:
- This study provides reassurance that unexpected complications from long term GLP-1 medication use are unlikely, even though the population in this study is those with diabetes rather than obesity. See item #5 (below) for a few problems that are coming up, though.
- Decreased cancers could improve the cost-effectiveness calculations on GLP-1 drugs for obesity, although at current high acquisition prices they are still highly unlikely to be cost-saving. Here’s a post from December explaining this.
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Coming Wednesday: Limited access to angioplasty access in minoritized, poor and rural communities