Tirzepatide, a dual agonist of the glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) and glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP) receptors, provides meaningful weight loss in women living with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and overweight or obesity, according to new data presented at ObesityWeek, the annual meeting of the Obesity Society.
Mean weight loss at 10 months was 18.81% overall after accounting for age, baseline body weight, and comorbidities, reported David Huang, MBBS, director of clinical innovation at Voy, a digital weight loss clinic based in London, UK. The impact was greater in women who were more engaged in the digital platform.
“Our results do demonstrate striking real-world effectiveness,” Dr. Huang said, noting that the magnitude of weight loss observed is similar to what has been seen in randomized trials of tirzepatide.
PCOS is one of the most common endocrine conditions, affecting about 10% to 15% of women. A key part of management is weight loss, with clinicians typically advising patients to lose at least 5% of their total body weight to help ease PCOS symptoms like menstrual irregularity, hirsutism, and insulin resistance and stave off longer-term cardiometabolic issues, Dr. Huang said.
“However, up until the advent of these new anti-obesity medications, the macroenvironment, the obesogenic environment, has meant that lifestyle and behavior change is especially difficult for these patients to lose weight and maintain it,” he emphasized.
Though there is clinical trial and real-world evidence that tirzepatide induces significant weight loss, the benefits might be mitigated in patients with metabolic conditions.
Dr. Huang and his colleagues performed a retrospective cohort study to assess the effectiveness of tirzepatide among women with self-reported PCOS and a starting BMI ≥30 kg/m2 (or ≥27 kg/m2 plus at least one other comorbidity) who initiated treatment to lose weight through Voy’s digital service between February 2024 and January 2025. The analysis included 4,241 adult women (median age 34 years) who had a median baseline BMI of 35.56 kg/m2.
The researchers used adjusted mixed models for repeated measures to calculate percent total body weight loss through 10 months of follow-up, and overall, “it was really encouraging to see really great results in this cohort,” Dr. Huang said.
Weight loss was particularly strong in women who were engaged with the digital platform (21.02% vs 17.23% among those who were not engaged). Digital engagement was defined as participating in coaching on a monthly basis, using the app with behavioral change components and medical education at least monthly, and tracking weight at least weekly.
Body weight steadily fell in both the engaged and nonengaged groups, but among those who were not digitally engaged, the decline flattened out a bit at around 8 or 9 months.
Kaplan-Meier methods were used to estimate the proportion of women achieving various thresholds of weight loss. By 10 months, 97% of participants lost at least 5% of their total body weight, and 91%, 75%, and 50% lost at least 10%,15%, and 20%, respectively.
The results are “really exciting” and reinforce “the important role of supportive care around medication,” Dr. Huang said. He added that the study “does suggest that the use of digital tools in these patients could confer better weight loss outcomes, and we’re really excited to explore further research looking at other complex metabolic conditions.”
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