1 week Ago By George Citroner
A recent study suggests a possible link between thyroid cancer and diabetes drugs like Ozempic and Rybelsus, especially in the first year of use. People within the first year of GLP-1RA treatment had a 1.85 times higher chance of being diagnosed with thyroid cancer.
In subsequent years, the risk decreased to 1.27 times higher for people who had been taking GLP-1RA medications for two or more years. However, overall, in absolute numbers, 69, or 0.
17 percent of the participants developed thyroid cancer. The researchers suggested that enhanced medical monitoring may explain the uptick in diagnoses rather than indicating that GLP-1RAs themselves cause thyroid cancer. “This finding may have been due to enhanced early detection; therefore, further research is necessary to understand the underlying causes of this association,” they pointed out.
Additionally, the study focused on patients using GLP-1RAs for the treatment of diabetes rather than for obesity management or the reduction of cardiovascular disease risk. “The metabolic advantages of GLP-1RA likely outweigh the possible risk of thyroid cancer,” the researchers wrote..
