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June 18, 2025
Weight loss drug proves effective in hemodialysis patients with obesity
A new study shows that the diabetes drug semaglutide can result in weight loss in hemodialysis patients who are obese, potentially improving their chances at a successful kidney transplant.
Obesity, which is when a person has a body mass index (BMI) of 30 kg/m2 or greater, can be an issue for kidney transplant eligibility. It is associated with several complications following transplantation, including an increased risk of mortality, operative wound complications, delayed engraftment, acute rejections, and prolonged hospital stays.
Semaglutide is a drug used to treat Type 2 diabetes, which has also proven to be an effective weight loss drug. While the medication has been found to support safe weight loss in people who are not on hemodialysis, Quebec-based researcher Jodianne Couture and colleagues were interested in studying whether it was also safe and effective for people on hemodialysis who are obese.
They recruited 251 study participants from French-speaking hemodialysis clinics in New Brunswick and Quebec, and 41 (16 per cent) of these patients received semaglutide. The researchers followed the study participants for a year and monitored their weight at three-, six-, and 12-month intervals.
The results show that semaglutide promotes weight loss in hemodialyzed adults with obesity, even after just three months of taking the medication. The 15 patients who continued taking the drug until the end of the 12-month period lost an average of 6.83 kilograms compared to the patients who did not take semaglutide.
It’s important to note that more than half of people taking the medication reported gastrointestinal symptoms, including nausea and vomiting. While the medication didn’t result in adverse events that led to hospitalization or death, 13 participants (32 per cent) stopped taking semaglutide due to side effects. Taken together, these results suggest that semaglutide can be an effective weight loss medication for people on hemodialysis who are obese.
