Healthy Returns: Stopping GLP-1s raises risk of heart attack, stroke and death, study says

[nitpicked]

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/03/18/stopping-glp-1s-raises-cardiovascular-risks-study.html

GLP-1s are practically everywhere – roughly one in eight U.S. adults take one. But stopping those drugs may come at a cost.

That’s according to a new study from the Washington University School of Medicine, which was published on Wednesday in BMJ Medicine.

The research found that even short gaps in treatment with a GLP-1 can drive up risks of heart attack, stroke and death in patients with Type 2 diabetes, and the impact may not be fully reversible. Using electronic health records, researchers followed more than 333,000 adults with diabetes over three years, and the lion’s share of them were taking Novo Nordisk’s diabetes injection Ozempic.
(snip)

Patients who stayed on GLP-1s over three years saw an 18% reduction in cardiovascular risk
Quitting GLP-1s for as little as six months erased much of that protection, raising the risk by 4% compared to continued use
A two-year gap in treatment pushed that risk to 22% compared to sustained use
(snip)

[niyad]

1. Having read the article, WHAT are glp-1's?

[nitpicked]

2. Understanding GLP-1 Drugs: Cost, Safety, and Access in Context

https://nam.edu/news-and-insights/understanding-glp-1-drugs/

(snip)

GLP-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1s)—better known by brand names Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro, or Zepbound— are often referred to as “miracle drugs.” GLP-1s were originally developed to help regulate blood sugar in people with type 2 diabetes. They also contribute to substantial weight loss for people with obesity and show promise in helping to manage other conditions, such as cardiovascular disease and substance use disorder.
(snip)

[hedda_foil]

3. "in patients with Type 2 diabetes"

[Ilikepurple]

4. This is an important medical study, but the way the stats are presented makes my brain pop

Let’s say you had a 4% cardiovascular risk and it went down by 18% after 3 years use. It is now at 4*.82=3.28 A significant drop. It goes up 4% quitting for six months. 3.28*1.04=3.411. I wouldn’t call that erasing “much” of the protection in any but a strained use of the word. If you continue to quit for two full years, it raises 22%. 3.28*1.22=4.0016. So, basically it’s as if you never took GLP-1s at all. Quitting GLP-1s statistically erase cardiovascular benefits after two years of cessation, but doesn’t raise it higher than before taking them. I fear some who are experiencing known side effects will misconstrue this information when doing a cost benefit analysis of stopping or even worse may fear starting them at all.
The article makes it seem like that stopping GLP-1s for a six months erases most, if not close to all, of the cardio vascular benefits rather than about 18% of the benefits. The next statement seems to aim to be interpreted as showing cardiovascular risks of stopping GLP-1s is greater than never having taken them at all, but the numbers don’t. I understand that Dr. Al-Aly is trying to advocate for the continued use of GLP-1s because at least some of the health benefits are reliant on such and perhaps he is using this method to pressure insurance companies to approve longer and more varied use of GLP-1s, but it seemed like a strange way to present a study’s finding until I noticed it was on a financial news site where this might also impact stock prices.

[Doodley]

5. Is that because the patients put weight on and ate less healthy after stopping GLP-1?