*

GLP-1 prescriptions linked to rise in diagnoses for sleep

apnea,

type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, data show

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Some people who had avoided doctors because of stigma of

obesity

are accessing long-delayed preventative care

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Other patients are seeking weight-loss drugs to become

eligible

for fertility treatment and other procedures

By Deena Beasley

Dec 16 (Reuters) - Powerful weight-loss drugs are

expanding use of U.S. health care as patients starting

prescriptions are diagnosed with obesity-related conditions or

take the drugs to become eligible for other services, health

records and discussions with doctors show.

An exclusive analysis of hundreds of thousands of electronic

patient records by health data firm Truveta found slight, but

measurable, increases in first-time diagnoses of sleep apnea,

cardiovascular disease, and type 2 diabetes within 15 days of an

initial prescription for a GLP-1 weight-loss drug between 2020

and 2024.

In addition to obesity-related conditions, some patients are

being prescribed the drugs to lose weight and become eligible

for services including organ transplants, fertility treatments

or knee replacements, according to interviews with seven doctors

and five other health experts.

"This is a population that previously felt stigmatized by

health care providers and often didn't return. But now that

they're actually seeing themselves get healthier, asking

clinicians questions and engaging more, I do think we're seeing

new patients," said Dr. Rekha Kumar, a New York endocrinologist

and obesity medicine specialist.

Novo Nordisk's Wegovy and Ozempic and Eli Lilly's ( LLY )

Zepbound and Mounjaro have been shown to lead to average

weight loss of at least 15%.

Andrew Friedson, director of health economics at the Milken

Institute and three other experts said the impact of the drugs

on overall healthcare use is not yet clear. The new diagnoses

could mean higher initial spending, but early detection could

save costs down the line, he said.

Dr. Courtney Younglove, an obesity medicine specialist and

founder of Heartland Weight Loss clinic in Overland Park,

Kansas, said she has referred obesity patients for long-delayed

pap smears and other routine care, including colonoscopies. Many

overweight patients avoid doctors and routine tests for years

due to the stigma and bias they often encounter, she said. "A

lot of people with obesity don't do a lot of preventive health

maintenance."

'THE COURAGE TO ASK'

Phil, a 43-year-old Chicago technology executive who asked

for his full name to be withheld for privacy reasons, generally

avoided doctors before receiving a GLP-1 prescription from a

telehealth provider in early 2023.

He said he told his regular physician about the medication

months later, after he had lost more than 30 lbs, and was taken

aback by her supportive response. He decided then to advocate

more for himself and ask for help with other conditions

including addiction and mental health.

"It gave me the courage to ask," he said.

The Truveta analysis found that for every 1,000 patients with a

first time GLP-1 prescription, 42 were diagnosed with type 2

diabetes within 15 days in 2024, up from 32 in 2020. Over the

same period, the number of sleep apnea diagnoses per 1,000

patients rose to 11 from 8 and the number of cardiovascular

disease diagnoses increased to 15 from 13.

The most obese patients were twice as likely as people who

were less overweight to receive a type 2 diabetes diagnosis, and

three times as likely to be diagnosed with sleep apnea, the

Truveta data showed.

The analysis was based on 33,630 first-time GLP-1 prescriptions

for overweight or obese patients in 2020 and 224,496 in the

first 10 months of 2024.

Lilly declined to directly comment on the data, saying in an

emailed statement "it is important that adults living with

obesity receive appropriate diagnosis and access to

evidence-based care."

Novo Nordisk also declined to comment directly, noting its

aim "to address unmet needs for a wider range of patients."

QUALIFYING FOR SURGERIES

ResMed ( RMD ), which sells sleep apnea devices, had revenue

growth of 11% for its fiscal year ending in June - a trend the

company attributed in part to the GLP-1 drugs.

The medications are "bringing people into primary care like

never before," ResMed ( RMD ) CEO Michael Farrell said at the company's

recent shareholder meeting.

In addition to things like sleep apnea, the weight-loss drugs

could lead to more joint replacements, said Sara Stahl, director

of healthcare research at market analysis firm AlphaSense.

"As people's BMIs come down, they'll be eligible for

surgeries they wouldn't otherwise," she said. "No one is saying

this is happening in a meaningful way right now, but we think it

will."

University of Chicago Medicine last year launched a

weight-loss clinic aimed at helping prospective organ transplant

patients lose weight to qualify for surgery, with the GLP-1

drugs playing a key role.

"Before they had a place to send these patients, which is

our clinic, the scheduler would just say, 'hey, what's your

weight, what's your height, what's your BMI,' and if they didn't

fit their criteria, they would just tell them to lose weight on

their own," said Anesia Reticker, the center's clinical

pharmacist specialist.

Retired Indiana steelworker Bensabio Guajardo, 68, was

prescribed Ozempic at the clinic in 2023 when he was deemed too

obese for a double lung transplant needed to keep him alive

after pulmonary fibrosis made breathing increasingly difficult.

"It helped me a lot. It took my cravings away," Guajardo

said. After losing around 90 pounds and stopping the drug ahead

of a successful surgery in May, his doctor put him back on it to

control high blood sugar.

Reticker said the program has received about 100 referrals

over the past year from transplant centers in the Chicago area.