GLP-1 Evidence

Evidence map

Discontinuation: what the evidence base looks like

9 publications, 8 of them trials and 0 syntheses. This page describes the shape of that literature rather than summarising its conclusions.

Updated 3 min read 9 citations

What the evidence on discontinuation is made of Of 9 publications on this topic, the breakdown by study type: 8 randomised trial, 1 review. 81randomised trial (8)review (1)
9 publications, by study type. Volume is not strength — the same count can be a settled question or a pile of commentary, and which one it is depends almost entirely on this breakdown. Harvested from PubMed and Crossref; publication type as recorded by the source.

What this literature is made of

There is a real trial literature here, but comparatively little synthesis. Individual trials can disagree, and without meta-analysis it is easy to find one that supports almost any position.

The distinction that matters most is between synthesis and primary research. A meta-analysis pools trials and is the closest thing to a settled answer a field produces. A narrative review is one group's reading of the same material and can be selective without being dishonest. Counting them together, which most citation counts do, obscures exactly the thing you want to know.

When the discontinuation literature was published Publication years for the 9 papers on this topic, grouped into bands from before 2015 through to 2023 onwards. 2023 onwards4 papers2020-20224 papers2015-20191 papers
Still active. The most recent paper here is from 2025, so this is a field where an answer written today may not hold for long. Publication years as recorded by PubMed and Crossref.

How this page is built

Everything above is computed from the citations this site harvested from PubMed and Crossref, not written by hand. When the weekly harvest finds a new paper on this topic, these counts change and the characterisation changes with them. That is the point: a hand-written claim about how strong an evidence base is starts decaying the day it is written.

Publication type is taken as the source records it. That is imperfect — journals label inconsistently, and a paper indexed as a "review" may be a systematic one — so treat the bands as approximate. They are accurate enough to distinguish a trial literature from a commentary literature, which is the distinction that matters.

The strongest work on this topic

Ordered by study design first, then recency. The full set is listed in the references below.

  1. Orforglipron, an Oral Small-Molecule GLP-1 Receptor Agonist for Obesity Treatment — Wharton S, Aronne LJ, Stefanski A et al., 2025, randomised controlled trial
  2. Once-Weekly Semaglutide in Persons with Obesity and Knee Osteoarthritis — Bliddal H, Bays H, Czernichow S et al., 2024, randomised controlled trial
  3. Semaglutide and Cardiovascular Outcomes in Obesity without Diabetes — Lincoff AM, Brown-Frandsen K, Colhoun HM et al., 2023, randomised controlled trial
  4. Weight regain and cardiometabolic effects after withdrawal of semaglutide: The STEP 1 trial extension — Wilding JPH, Batterham RL, Davies M et al., 2022, randomised controlled trial
  5. Two-year effects of semaglutide in adults with overweight or obesity: the STEP 5 trial — Garvey WT, Batterham RL, Bhatta M et al., 2022, randomised controlled trial
  6. Once-Weekly Semaglutide in Adults with Overweight or Obesity — Wilding JPH, Batterham RL, Calanna S et al., 2021, randomised controlled trial
  7. Effect of Continued Weekly Subcutaneous Semaglutide vs Placebo on Weight Loss Maintenance in Adults With Overweight or Obesity: The STEP 4 Randomized Clinical Trial — Rubino D, Abrahamsson N, Davies M et al., 2021, randomised controlled trial
  8. Semaglutide and Cardiovascular Outcomes in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes — Marso SP, Bain SC, Consoli A et al., 2016, randomised controlled trial
  9. Obesity Management in Adults: A Review — Elmaleh-Sachs A, Schwartz JL, Bramante CT et al., 2023, review
How much research is there on discontinuation?
9 publications are indexed here, of which 8 are trials and 0 are syntheses.
Does more research mean a stronger conclusion?
No. Composition matters more than volume — five randomised trials support a claim far better than fifty commentaries, and citation counts do not distinguish between them.
How current is this?
The most recent paper indexed here is from 2025. The set is refreshed weekly from PubMed and Crossref.
Why does this page not tell me the answer?
Because summarising a literature into a conclusion requires reading it, and doing that automatically is how confident nonsense gets published. This page tells you how much weight a conclusion could bear; the articles on this site do the interpreting.

References

Every citation below links to the original peer-reviewed record on PubMed or via DOI. Nothing here is a substitute for medical advice.

  1. Orforglipron, an Oral Small-Molecule GLP-1 Receptor Agonist for Obesity Treatment Wharton S, Aronne LJ, Stefanski A, et al. · The New England journal of medicine · 2025 · Randomised controlled trial DOIPubMed 40960239
  2. Once-Weekly Semaglutide in Persons with Obesity and Knee Osteoarthritis Bliddal H, Bays H, Czernichow S, et al. · The New England journal of medicine · 2024 · Randomised controlled trial DOIPubMed 39476339
  3. Semaglutide and Cardiovascular Outcomes in Obesity without Diabetes Lincoff AM, Brown-Frandsen K, Colhoun HM, et al. · The New England journal of medicine · 2023 · Randomised controlled trial DOIPubMed 37952131
  4. Two-year effects of semaglutide in adults with overweight or obesity: the STEP 5 trial Garvey WT, Batterham RL, Bhatta M, et al. · Nature medicine · 2022 · Randomised controlled trial DOIPubMed 36216945Full text
  5. Weight regain and cardiometabolic effects after withdrawal of semaglutide: The STEP 1 trial extension Wilding JPH, Batterham RL, Davies M, et al. · Diabetes, obesity & metabolism · 2022 · Randomised controlled trial DOIPubMed 35441470Full text
  6. Effect of Continued Weekly Subcutaneous Semaglutide vs Placebo on Weight Loss Maintenance in Adults With Overweight or Obesity: The STEP 4 Randomized Clinical Trial Rubino D, Abrahamsson N, Davies M, et al. · JAMA · 2021 · Randomised controlled trial DOIPubMed 33755728Full text
  7. Once-Weekly Semaglutide in Adults with Overweight or Obesity Wilding JPH, Batterham RL, Calanna S, et al. · The New England journal of medicine · 2021 · Randomised controlled trial DOIPubMed 33567185
  8. Semaglutide and Cardiovascular Outcomes in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Marso SP, Bain SC, Consoli A, et al. · The New England journal of medicine · 2016 · Randomised controlled trial DOIPubMed 27633186
  9. Obesity Management in Adults: A Review Elmaleh-Sachs A, Schwartz JL, Bramante CT, et al. · JAMA · 2023 · Review DOIPubMed 38015216Full text