GLP-1s May Cut Obesity-Related Cancer Risk: Daily Dose

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Patient Care brings primary care clinicians a lot of medical news every day—it’s easy to miss an important study. The Daily Dose provides a concise summary of one of the website's leading stories you may not have seen.

On May 28, 2025, we reported on findings from a large observational study presented at the 2025 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting that examined the effect of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists on the risk of 14 obesity-related cancers.

The study

Researchers analyzed data from 170 030 adults with a body mass index (BMI) ≥30 kg/m² and a diagnosis of diabetes, drawn from 43 health systems in the US between 2013 and 2023. Half of the cohort initiated treatment with a GLP-1 RA and the other half with a DPP-4 inhibitor. The average age was 56.8 years, and the average BMI was 38.5 kg/m². Approximately 50% of participants were women, over 70% were White, and more than 14% were Black.

The findings

Using a target trial emulation design and propensity score matching to reduce confounding, the researchers found that patients in the GLP-1 RA group had a 7% lower risk of developing an obesity-related cancer and an 8% lower risk of all-cause mortality compared to those treated with DPP-4 inhibitors. The use of GLP-1 RAs was particularly associated with reduced incidence of colorectal cancers, with 16% fewer cases of colon cancer and 28% fewer cases of rectal cancer compared to the DPP-4 inhibitor group.

Authors' comments

"Our results suggest they may modestly cut the chance of developing certain cancers—especially cancers of the colon and rectum—and reduce rates of death due to all causes. These data are reassuring, but more studies are required to prove causation."

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