GLP-1 Receptor Agonist Use Linked to Lower Incidence of Obesity-Associated Cancers

THURSDAY, June 11, 2026 (HealthDay News) — For adults with obesity but without diabetes, glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist (GLP-1 RA) use is associated with a significantly lower short-term incidence of obesity-associated cancers (OACs), according to a study published online June 7 in the Annals of Oncology.

Arthur Heng-Cheng Hsu, Ph.D., from the Houston Methodist Neal Cancer Center, and colleagues examined the association between GLP-1 RA use and risk for 13 OACs in a target trial emulation using the TriNetX nationwide database. Adults with obesity but without diabetes and without prior OAC diagnosis were identified from December 2014 to June 2025. Patients prescribed GLP-1 RAs were propensity score-matched to those receiving diet or exercise counseling.

The cohort included 229,467 participants; 37.7 and 62.3 percent received GLP-1 RAs and diet or exercise consultation, respectively. After propensity score matching, 80,899 GLP-1 RA users were matched to 80,899 patients on diet or exercise consultation. The researchers found that the incidence of any OAC was significantly lower among GLP-1 RA users, with a median follow-up of two years (hazard ratio, 0.59). GLP-1 RA use was associated with a lower cumulative incidence of OACs in all subgroups, except for Black race, in secondary analyses. The findings were confirmed by inverse probability of treatment weighting.

“GLP-1 RAs are already transforming how we treat obesity,” senior author Aparna A. Kamat, M.D., from Houston Methodist Hospital, said in a statement. “What this analysis of more than 229,000 patients tells us is that their impact may reach further and transform how we think about cancer prevention.”

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