Tirzepatide lowers body weight for adults with obesity, regardless of disease duration
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Key takeaways:
- Adults receiving tirzepatide in four SURMOUNT trials achieved greater weight loss than those receiving placebo.
- Magnitude of weight loss was similar for adults with different disease durations.
Adults with obesity for 20 years or more who received tirzepatide had a similar reduction in body weight and waist circumference as adults with shorter obesity duration, according to a post hoc analysis of four SURMOUNT trials.
“The results of this study recommend the use of tirzepatide in all patients with obesity independently of their anti-obesity therapeutical history, thus highlighting the fact that tirzepatide is effective,” Giovanna Muscogiuri, MD, PhD, assistant professor of endocrinology at University of Naples Federico II in Italy, told Healio.
Researchers obtained data from the SURMOUNT-1, SURMOUNT-2, SURMOUNT-3 and SURMOUNT-4 trials. Participants were divided into three groups based on their overweight or obesity disease duration at baseline: 10 years or less, 10 to 20 years and more than 20 years. Percent body weight change; proportion of adults with at least 5%, 10%, 15%, 20% and 25% weight loss; and change in waist circumference were collected.
The findings will be presented at the European Congress on Obesity.
In all three obesity duration groups, adults receiving tirzepatide (Zepbound, Eli Lilly) had greater weight reduction than those receiving placebo. More adults receiving tirzepatide achieved 5%, 10%, 15%, 20% and 25% weight reduction compared with placebo across all three disease duration groups. Findings were similar for waist circumference, regardless of disease duration.
The magnitude of body weight and waist circumference reductions were similar for adults receiving the same tirzepatide dose, regardless of duration of disease. In SURMOUNT-1, adults with obesity or overweight plus one weight-related comorbidity were randomly assigned to once-weekly 5 mg, 10 mg or 15 mg tirzepatide or placebo for 72 weeks. Percentage of body weight lost at 72 weeks in the 15 mg tirzepatide group was 22.6% for those with disease duration of 10 years or less, 22.9% with 10 to 20 years duration, and 22.1% for more than 20 years disease duration.
“It is well known that the body of subjects with obesity is less responsive to anti-obesity treatment if the history of obesity is long, and this is because a long history of obesity blunts the metabolic system, making it less responsive to pharmaceutical treatment,” Muscogiuri said. “Also, subjects with a long history of obesity did a lot of attempts to lose weight. This can also make the body less responsive to further pharmacological treatment. Tirzepatide overcame this issue, being effective in subjects with obesity independently of the length of the history of obesity, and this was surprising.”
Muscogiuri said more studies are needed to see whether the similarities in weight loss for adults with different obesity durations are maintained over a long-term period.
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Muscogiuri G, et al. Abstract 187. Presented at: European Congress on Obesity; May 12-15, 2024; Venice, Italy.
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