Key Summary
- A study found that GLP-1 injections reduced the number of sick days by 45 per cent.
- It also reduced the GP appointments.
- NHS pledged to roll out weight-loss jabs to 3.4 million severely obese patients over the next decade.
Weight-loss jabs or GLP-1 injections reduce the number of sick days people take by almost half and can help free up millions of GP appointments, according to a study.
The study, led by Oviva, found that after six months on the injections, sick days fell by 45 percent among the participants.
Additionally, face-to-face GP appointments dropped by 53 per cent among the group. The jabs also cut emergency care.
Analysis of a separate cohort of 738 patients found that the number of A&E visits fell by 25 percent after starting weight-loss drugs.
The study analysed data from 1,270 obese patients in England who were prescribed the weight-loss drugs Wegovy or Mounjaro by the NHS.
The research, presented at the European Congress on Obesity in Istanbul, involved patients with an average body mass index of 45, which fell to 39 after nine months under the treatment.
The NHS pledged to roll out weight-loss jabs to 3.4 million severely obese patients over the next decade, but at present they are only given to 220,000 by the health service.
The study calculated it could free up nearly ten million GP appointments every year if rolled out to the 3.4 million people, saving the health service about £364 million annually - equivalent to almost 3 per cent of the GP core budget.
Martin Fidock, the UK’s managing director of Oviva, said: “Britain is in the grip of a productivity crisis, and obesity is one of the biggest drivers. Our data shows that when people get the right treatment - jabs combined with proper clinical support - they don’t just lose weight; they get back to work, stop relying on their GP and start living again.”
Why should obesity be tackled?
Obesity is estimated to cost the UK economy £31 billion a year in lost productivity, and the government is targeting trials of weight-loss jabs in areas of high unemployment.
Former health secretary Wes Streeting, who resigned recently, said: “We need to get our country back to health and back to work. Our actions to build a healthy society are crucial to building a healthy economy.
Two in three adults in the UK are overweight or obese, and high obesity levels have been a key factor in driving long-term sickness to record levels. Research shows obese people are up to twice as likely to be absent from work. Morbidly obese patients cost the NHS twice as much per year as those who are a healthy weight.
Initially, drugs such as semaglutide, sold under the brand names Ozempic and Wegovy, were thought only to treat type 2 diabetes and obesity. However, research has since found that they help with a host of problems, including cutting the risk of heart attacks and strokes by one fifth.
Separate research, led by scientists in Denmark and presented on Thursday at the conference, found weight-loss jabs helped to reduce asthma attacks and migraines.
The downsides
However, another study also found that GLP-1 receptor agonist could lead to a risk on erectile dysfunction in men with type 2 diabetes.
The study, conducted by researchers affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, found a small but statistically significant increase in the rate of newly diagnosed erectile dysfunction among patients taking GLP-1 receptor agonists compared to those on DPP-4 inhibitors.
In March, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) also received reports of two deaths from Northern Ireland, potentially caused by weight loss drugs.
