Reasons for Discontinuation of Obesity Pharmacotherapy With Semaglutide or Tirzepatide in Clinical Practice
Authors' conclusion
High cost or insurance-related issues are the most common reasons for treatment discontinuation with semaglutide or tirzepatide for obesity. Our findings highlight the need for policies to address cost and could inform discussions between healthcare providers and patients concerning cost and side effects.
Study context
- Population
- Adults with overweight or obesity without T2D who initiated injectable semaglutide or tirzepatide and discontinued within the first year; single health system in Ohio and Florida, January 2022–December 2024randomly selected
- Participants
- 288 adults
- Exposure
- Semaglutide vs Tirzepatide
- Semaglutiden = 145
- Tirzepatiden = 143
- Outcome
- Primary reason for treatment discontinuation
- Follow-up
- Within the first year
Methodological detailssingle integrated health system, electronic health record data, randomly selected sample
- Single integrated health system
- Electronic health record data
- Randomly selected sample
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
Primary reason for discontinuation (overall)
- Cost or insurance-related issues
- 137 (47.6%)
- Inability to tolerate side effects
- 42 (14.6%)
- Unable to fill due to shortages
- 34 (11.8%)
- Switched to compounded medication
- 7 (2.4%)
- Unsatisfactory weight loss
- 5 (1.7%)
- Other reasons
- 31 (10.8%)
- Reason not specified in electronic health record
- 32 (11.1%)
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Safety
Discontinuation due to intolerable side effects
- Discontinued due to inability to tolerate side effects (overall)
- 42 (14.6%)
Original publication
Reasons for Discontinuation of Obesity Pharmacotherapy With Semaglutide or Tirzepatide in Clinical Practice. Obesity (Silver Spring). Published 2 October 2025. doi:10.
Composed by AI from the published abstract and checked against it. How Briefs are made →