Subcutaneous Therapy Boosts Health-Related Quality of Life in Patients With Overweight, Obesity

Once-weekly subcutaneous semaglutide 2.4 mg is associated with improvements in health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in patients with overweight or obesity, according to study findings published in Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism.

The study looked at HRQoL data from four phase 3 Semaglutide Treatment Effect in People with obesity (STEP) trials. Each double-blind randomized controlled trial lasted 68 weeks. STEP 1, STEP 3, and STEP 4 compared the efficacy and safety of semaglutide with placebo in participants with a body mass index (BMI) of 30 kg/m² or higher, or a BMI of 27 kg/m² or higher and at least one comorbidity. STEP 2 focused on participants with a BMI of 27 kg/m² or higher and type 2 diabetes.

Researchers converted HRQoL data from the Short Form 36-item Health Survey version 2 into Short Form Six-Dimension version 2 (SF-6Dv2) utility scores or mapped information onto the European Quality of Life Five-Dimension Three-Level (EQ-5D-3L) utility index using UK health utility weights.

Semaglutide was associated with minor health utility score improvements between baseline and week 68 in all four trials, according to the study. Scores for individuals treated with placebo, on the other hand, typically decreased. 

Improvements in health utility scores were significant for semaglutide compared with placebo in STEP 1 and STEP 4 for SF-6Dv2. For EQ-5D-3L, health utility scores were significant for STEP 1, STEP 2, and STEP 4.

“Baseline utility scores were generally high, and treatment differences were typically driven by an increase in mean utility score in the semaglutide 2.4 mg group and a decrease in mean utility score in the placebo group,” wrote corresponding author Jakob Bue Bjorner, MD, of QualityMetric Inc., Johnston, Rhode Island, and the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, and coauthors. “These observations, in addition to the weight loss benefits reported in the primary analyses for the individual STEP 1-4 trials, show how health-related utility scores may indicate improvements in patients with overweight or obesity in a randomized controlled trial setting.”

Reference:
Bjorner JB, Larsen S, Lübker C, Holst-Hansen T. The improved health utility of once-weekly subcutaneous semaglutide 2.4 mg compared with placebo in the STEP 1-4 obesity trials. Diabetes Obes Metab. Published online April 13, 2023. doi:10.1111/dom.15090