Treating obesity with weight-loss injections could significantly reduce sickness absence and ease pressure on NHS services including GP use and emergency department attendance, according to new research presented at the European Congress on Obesity in Istanbul.
The study involved 1,270 patients enrolled on NHS supplier Oviva’s tier 3 weight management programme. Most patients had at least three obesity-related health conditions, commonly including anxiety, hypertension and type 2 diabetes, and were prescribed glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists such as semaglutide.
Sickness absence fell by 45% after nine months of treatment, while long-term sickness absence – defined as five days or more – fell by 56%.
Average sick days dropped from 1.19 to 0.66 per patient when equivalent three-month periods before and after treatment were compared. The proportion of patients taking at least five days off work fell from 17% to 7%.
Face-to-face GP appointments fell by 43%, while remote consultations dropped by 48%, and more than 60% of patients said they had not contacted their GP at all during the study period.
Participants lost an average of 12.4% of their body weight during the programme, while average BMI fell from 45 to 39.
A separate analysis involving 738 patients found emergency department attendance fell by around a quarter among those prescribed GLP-1s.
According to researchers’ estimates, extending access to the medicines to the 3.4 million people currently eligible for NHS treatment in England could save the health service approximately £364m a year.
European Congress on Obesity research
Also presented at the congress, the ATTAIN-MAINTAIN randomised controlled trial found that the daily GLP-1 receptor agonist orforglipron could help people maintain weight loss after stopping GLP-1 injectables.
Additional studies presented at the congress suggested GLP-1 medicines could also have benefits beyond weight reduction. For example, Danish researchers reported a 26% reduction in asthma exacerbations among patients with asthma and obesity or type 2 diabetes who were prescribed semaglutide or liraglutide.
The same study found reductions in inhaler use, corticosteroid exposure and pneumonia events.
Another Danish study found adults aged 18 to 35 prescribed Wegovy for weight management showed an 18% reduction in the use of migraine triptan medicines, although the researchers said further studies were needed to confirm the findings.
A version of this article was originally published by our sister publication The Pharmacist.