Combat Post–Bariatric Surgery Weight Regain With GLP-1 RAs

TOPLINE: 

Treatment with glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs), including liraglutide or semaglutide, for 12 months enabled patients to lose nearly all the weight they had regained after bariatric surgery.

METHODOLOGY: 

• Researchers conducted a single-centre retrospective study to examine the efficacy and safety of 12 months of treatment with GLP-1 RAs in patients who had weight regain after bariatric surgery.
• They included 40 patients with post–bariatric surgery weight regain (median age at baseline, 50 years; 80% women) who initiated treatment with GLP-1 RAs after a median of 74.5 months post-surgery, following a weight regain of 14.7%.
• Patients received either liraglutide (3.0 mg daily subcutaneous injection; n = 22) or semaglutide (1.0 mg weekly subcutaneous injection; n = 18).
• Weight regain was defined as any weight gain occurring after reaching weight nadir at least 15 months after bariatric surgery.
• Primary outcomes were changes in total body weight and body mass index (BMI), the proportion of body weight regained, and excess body weight lost after 12 months of treatment with GLP-1 RAs. 

TAKEAWAY:

• Following 12 months of treatment with GLP-1 RAs, patients achieved a total body weight reduction of 10.5 kg and BMI reduction of 3.7 and lost 99.3% of their regained weight (P < .0001).
• Moreover, patients who received semaglutide showed a significantly greater reduction in BMI than those who received liraglutide (4.7 vs 3.1; P = .04).
• Adverse events were reported in 13 patients, all of which were classified as mild and transient.

IN PRACTICE: 

“Although bariatric surgery remains the single most effective measure for weight control in individuals with obesity, a substantial portion of patients will require additional therapies to maintain its effects on body weight control,” the authors wrote. 

SOURCE:

This study was led by Anders Boisen Jensen and Ursina Machado, Cantonal Hospital of St. Gallen, St. Gallen, Switzerland, and was published online on April 07, 2025, in BMC Endocrine Disorders.

LIMITATIONS: 

This study may be subject to potential bias and confounding due to its retrospective, observational nature. Semaglutide was used off-label at a lower dose for diabetes management, which may have led to an underestimation of the magnitude of weight loss achievable with a higher dose that was unavailable in Switzerland during the observation period. Additionally, the small sample size may have limited statistical power of the study.

DISCLOSURES: 

This study did not receive any funding. One author reported being a former employee of Novo Nordisk A/S.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.