Assessment of thyroid cancer risk associated with glucagon‐like peptide 1 receptor agonist use
Authors' conclusion
The totality of data analysed did not suggest an association between liraglutide or semaglutide use and thyroid cancer risk in adults.
Study context
- Population
- Adults in liraglutide or semaglutide trials; individuals with T2D in US Merative MarketScan Commercial Databasetrials
- Participants
- 101,732 adults
- Comparison
- GLP-1 RA vs placebo, active comparator or SGLT2i
- Outcome
- Overall thyroid cancer risk
Methodological details93 phase 2 and 3 trials, 6 cardiovascular outcome trials (CVOTs), US claims database
- 93 phase 2 and 3 trials, 6 CVOTs
- US claims database
Pooled result
As reported in the abstract
Thyroid cancer, all clinical trials
Hazard ratio (95% CI)
GLP-1RAvs Placebo
1.70(0.99–3.03)
GLP-1RAvs Active comparator
1.83(0.70–6.71)
Further pooled results
| Outcome | HR (95% CI) | |
|---|---|---|
| Thyroid cancer, CVOTsGLP-1RAvs Placebo | 1.41 (0.72–2.81) | |
| Thyroid cancer, real-world T2D (MarketScan)GLP-1RAvs SGLT2is | 0.87 (0.58–1.29) | |
| 0.20.5125Hazard ratio (log scale) |
Thyroid cancer reporting rate, post-marketing surveillance
- Reporting rate
- 0.001 cases/100 PYE
- Did not support an association between liraglutide or semaglutide exposure and number of thyroid cancer events
Parts of this Brief are withheld: the automatic checks could not confirm them against the abstract.
Original publication
Assessment of thyroid cancer risk associated with glucagon‐like peptide 1 receptor agonist use. Diabetes Obes Metab. Published 25 November 2025. doi:10.
Composed by AI from the published abstract and checked against it. How Briefs are made →