Real-World Use of Semaglutide for Weight Management: Patient Characteristics and Dose Titration – a Danish Cohort Study

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posted on 2024-08-06, 16:55 authored by Louise Ladebo, Martin T. Ernst, Aurélie Mailhac, Carsten Dirksen, Kirstine N. Bojsen-Møller, Anton Pottegård

Objective

To determine patient characteristics and dose titration patterns of real-world Wegovy® (semaglutide) users.

Research Design and Methods

Population-based cohort study including Danish adults who filled Wegovy® from December 12^th, 2022, to December 31^st, 2023. Outcomes were patient characteristics, prescriber type and dose titration patterns.

Results

We identified 110,748 individuals (median age 49 years; 70% female) filling 773,708 prescriptions for Wegovy®. General practitioners initiated treatment in 86%. Common comorbidities included hypertension (30%), dyslipidemia (17%) and arthrosis (17%). Only 13% reached the maximum dose of 2.4 mg by their 5^th prescription, while 5.7% stopped after the first prescription. Few users (10%) followed recommended dose increases every four weeks. Overall, 25% filled at least one prescription of 2.4 mg, while 33-48% continued with the 1.0 mg dosage from the fourth prescription onwards.

Conclusions

Real-world Wegovy® users generally resembled trial participants but few follow the dose titration schemes tested in pre-market clinical trials.