four-surgeons-discuss-surgical-precision-1108879135 Credit: Getty
USING weight loss jabs could increase the risk of a potentially deadly surgery complication, a UK study shows.
People using Wegovy and Mounjaro were 11 times more likely to experience regurgitation – when stomach contents rise into the throat or mouth.
This side effect can be dangerous, as sometimes liquid or food from the stomach can enter the lungs, blocking the airway or causing infections. It’s known as pulmonary aspiration.
Patients are advised not to eat or drink for certain periods of time before operations involving anaesthesia, in order to prevent these risks.
Sign up for the Health newsletter
Thank you!
But GLP-1s – as weight loss drugs are also known – can delay gastric emptying, slowing passage of food and fluid from the stomach.
As a result, jab users’ stomachs may not be fully empty during their procedure – meaning they may be more likely to suffer regurgitation and aspiration.
JAB UP
How to avoid ‘ticking weight gain timebomb’ threatening fat jab users
NO WEIGH
Fat jabs could slash risk of killer asthma attacks up to 40%, study suggests
Around 3 per cent of Brits undergoing surgery are taking GL-P1s to treat obesity and type 2 diabetes, said researchers from Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust and King’s College London, led by Dr Kariem El-Boghdadly.
They carried out a study of adults across the UK who were undergoing elective or emergency procedures, for which they received anaesthesia.
“Case reports highlight episodes of pulmonary aspiration or regurgitation in patients receiving GLP-1 RAs despite adequate fasting times,” they wrote in the journal Anaesthesia.
“However, these patients frequently have other risk factors for aspiration, and it is therefore unclear to what extent GLP-1 RAs contribute to this risk.”
Common weight loss jab side effects
Common side effects of GLP-1 jabs include:
Nausea and heartburn
Constipation
Headaches
Vomiting
Diarrhoea
Constipation
Injection site reactions, redness, bruising, itching, swelling and pain
Gallstones and gallbladder inflammation
Researchers obtained data on 47,039 patients undergoing surgery from 119 different sites in the UK.
Of those, 1,348 – or 2.9 per cent – reported using weight loss jabs in the three months leading up to their surgery.
Just under 70 per cent were using tirzepatide – the active ingredient in Mounjaro – and 26.2 per cent were using semaglutide, the core ingredient in Wegovy and Ozempic.
Twenty patients – 1.5 per cent – reported using daily weight loss pills.
Most patients obtained the treatments from online pharmacies, rather than their GP or a hospital specialist, researchers noted.
Just under a third of them were asked to stop taking their GLP-1 before surgery, with most stopping the jabs or pills for eight to 14 days.
Researchers noted that this might not have been enough time for the drugs to fully clear their system.
Between 25 and 35 days “would be required to effectively eliminate the drug”, they said.
“One patient had surgery deferred due to reporting the use of GLP-1 RAs on the day of surgery,” they added.
The study authors tracked episodes of regurgitation or aspiration among patients.
Of the 45,691 not using weight loss drugs, 57 experienced the complications – amounting to one in every 802 patients.
The rate of regurgitation and aspiration was 11 times higher in GLP-1 users.
Nineteen out of the 1,348 in this group experienced complications – with 17 suffering regurgitation, most often when emerging from anaesthesia, and two aspiration.
This amounts to a rate of one in 71.
The authors highlighted that these complications in people taking weight loss jabs occurred despite clinicians trying to mitigate the risks of pulmonary aspiration and regurgitation.
But they noted: “Although our results suggest that GLP-1 RAs are associated with an 11-fold increase in the incidence of pulmonary aspiration or regurgitation, causality cannot be determined.
“For example, obesity and diabetes are known risk factors for pulmonary aspiration and are over-represented in people receiving GLP-1 RAs in our cohort.”
The researchers advised patients undergoing surgery to let their surgeons know if they were taking weight loss jabs – whether or not they’d acquired them through reputable means.
It comes after the popular drugs were linked to a rare brain disease that could trigger permanent memory loss.
