A new study found that a medication called semaglutide, which is used for adults who are obese or overweight, also aids adolescent weight loss and heart health.

In a global phase 3a clinical trial, obese adolescents who got once-weekly semaglutide experienced a 16.1% decrease in body mass index (BMI) compared to placebo, whereas the BMI of those who received the latter increased by 0.6%.

"Rates of obesity are increasing, not just in the U.S., but all over the world," said senior author Silva Arslanian, M.D., professor of pediatrics and clinical and translational science and who holds the Richard L. Day Endowed Chair in Pediatrics at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

"Typically, we make lifestyle recommendations: Eat more vegetables; don't eat fried food; don't drink soda. But unfortunately, we live in a very obesogenic environment, so it can be very hard to make those changes. There is a real need for safe and effective medications to treat obesity."

Semaglutide is an anti-obesity medication that mimics the effects of the hormone glucagon-like peptide-1 to work on brain regions that govern hunger and satiety. This medication was authorised for the management of chronic weight in persons who are obese or overweight in 2021.

Semaglutide was administered to 201 obese or overweight teenagers between the ages of 12 and 18 in various centers to determine whether it was also beneficial in young people.

All participants received concurrent lifestyle intervention, including guidance on a healthy diet and regular exercise, throughout the course of the experiment. Participants received either once-weekly subcutaneous injections of semaglutide 2.4 mg or a placebo.

After 68 weeks, 72.5% of semaglutide participants had achieved at least 5% weight loss compared to just 17% of those on placebo.

"The results are amazing," said Arslanian, who is also director of the Pediatric Clinical and Translational Research Center and scientific director of the Center for Pediatric Research in Obesity and Metabolism at Pitt and UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh.

"For a person who is 5 foot, 5 inches tall and weighs 240 pounds, the average reduction in BMI equates to shedding about 40 pounds."

Nearly one in five children and adolescents globally suffer from obesity. A shorter life expectancy and a higher chance of significant health issues like type 2 diabetes, heart disease, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, sleep apnea, and several malignancies are associated with this chronic illness.

Teenagers who are obese are also more likely to experience various psychological problems such as sadness, anxiety, low self-esteem, and others.

Comparing the semaglutide group to the placebo group, the study revealed improvements in the cardiovascular risk variables of waist circumference, HbA1c, total, low-density, and very low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglycerides, and liver enzymes.

Blood pressure or high-density lipoprotein cholesterol did not differ statistically significantly between the two groups, though.

Participants who took semaglutide also had a better weight-related quality of life measures, mostly due to a boost in physical comfort scores, compared with their placebo peers. The researchers note that this is the first obesity drug to be linked with such quality-of-life improvements in adolescents.