Risk of hair loss associated with glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists in adults with type 2 diabetes: target trial emulation
Authors' conclusion
Use of GLP-1 receptor agonists was associated with an increased risk of non-scarring alopecia in adults with type 2 diabetes.
Study context
- Population
- Adults (>18 years) with T2D initiating GLP-1 RA, SGLT2i or DPP-4i between January 2019 and September 2024; Penn Medicine electronic health records
- Comparison
- GLP-1 RA vs SGLT2i and vs DPP-4i
- SGLT-2 inhibitorsn = 15,221reference
- DPP-4 inhibitorsn = 11,238reference
- Outcome
- Incident alopecia, identified by diagnostic codes
Methodological detailsstabilised inverse probability of treatment weighting, new-user design
- Stabilised inverse probability of treatment weighting
- New-user design
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
Incident alopecia
Hazard ratio (95% CI)
GLP-1 RA vs SGLT2i12 004 GLP-1 RAvs 15 221 SGLT2i initiators
1.37(1.08–1.73)
GLP-1 RA vs DPP-4i11 964 GLP-1 RAvs 11 238 DPP-4i initiators
1.68(1.28–2.20)
Further findings
| Outcome | HR (CI) | |
|---|---|---|
| Non-scarring alopecia (subtype analysis)GLP-1 RAvs SGLT2i | 1.53 (1.18–1.97) | |
| Non-scarring alopecia (subtype analysis)GLP-1 RAvs DPP-4i | 1.72 (1.28–2.31) | |
| 0.512Hazard ratio (log scale) |
Non-scarring alopecia (subtype analysis)
- Association specific to non-scarring alopecia
Sensitivity and subgroup analyses
- Associations consistent across sensitivity and subgroup analyses, with attenuation after negative control outcome calibration
Original publication
Risk of hair loss associated with glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists in adults with type 2 diabetes: target trial emulation. BMJ. Published 22 July 2026. doi:10.
Composed by AI from the published abstract and checked against it. How Briefs are made →