Efficacy and Safety of Semaglutide for Weight Loss in Obesity Without Diabetes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

The weight loss benefit of semaglutide in patients with diabetes is well-documented, but its clinical utility in treating obesity among patients without diabetes is less described. We therefore assessed the efficacy and safety of subcutaneous semaglutide as treatment for obesity in patients without diabetes. A comprehensive search of PubMed/MEDLINE, Cochrane and Google scholar was performed to identify trials on the efficacy and safety of subcutaneous semaglutide on patients with obesity without diabetes. Primary outcome was expressed as percent mean weight difference. Secondary outcomes including risk for gastrointestinal adverse events, discontinuation of treatment and serious adverse events were expressed as risk ratios. These were calculated using the random effects model. The study included 4 randomized controlled trials having a total of 3,613 individuals with obesity without diabetes. The mean difference for weight reduction was -11.85%, favoring semaglutide [95% confidence interval (CI) (-12.81,-10.90),