Weight loss effect of obesity surgery, 5 times higher than GLP1 treatment
Jun 18, 2025
|
At the annual conference of the American Society for Metabolic Obesity Surgery (ASMBS) held in Washington, DC on the 18th, Dr. Avery Brown of NYU Langone Health announced that in a study that directly compared the effects of obesity surgery with second-generation GLP-1 agents, obesity surgery such as sleep gastrectomy and gastroscopic bypass was found to be five times more effective than treatments.
The research team compared the weight changes of patients who underwent gastrectomy or gastric bypass surgery for the treatment of obesity between 2018 and 2024 and those who were prescribed injections once a week of semaclutide (Wigobi) and tirzepatide (Jebbound) for the second and next generation GLP-1 agents for up to two years. The patients who participated in the study were 51,085 patients who were prescribed surgery or GLP-1 agonists for ultra-high obesity with a body mass index (BMI) of at least 35 kg/㎡ or more.
Comparison of weight loss effects showed that surgical patients lost an average of 26.3 kg (25%) after 2 years, but patients given GLP-1 treatment for at least 6 months lost only an average of 5.4 kg (4.7%). Even when the GLP-1 treatment was continuously administered throughout the year, the total weight loss rate was 7%, which was much lower than that of obese surgical patients. In response, the research team said that the GLP-1 agent, which showed a weight loss effect of 15 to 21% in clinical trials, suggests that the effect may be much lower in the actual environment.
Meanwhile, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the prevalence of obesity and severe obesity in Americans is 40.3% and 9.4%, respectively.
The United States is the largest consumer of the global GLP-1 family of treatments, accounting for approximately 45% of global revenue as of 2023. Social interest is so high that 20% of Americans are willing to change jobs to receive medical insurance benefits for weight loss drugs.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
