Are People With Eating Disorders Misusing GLP-1 Drugs?

Among over 400 people with eating disorders in an interim analysis of an ongoing cross-sectional study, 32.1% said they have used GLP-1 drugs, and 22% reported current use.Overall, 10% said they have misused GLP-1 medications, and 9.9% reported using noncommercial compounded products.Pharmacovigilance of GLP-1 drugs is urgently needed, researchers said.

Use and misuse of GLP-1 receptor agonists were common in people with eating disorders, interim results of an ongoing cross-sectional study suggested.

Among over 400 people with eating disorders, 32.1% said they have used GLP-1 drugs, and 22% reported current use, wrote Nicholas C. Peiper, PhD, MPH, of the University of Louisville in Kentucky, and co-authors in a research letter in JAMA Psychiatry.

Notably, 10.1% said they have misused the medications, and 9.9% reported using noncommercial compounded products.

"People with eating disorders are a clinically diverse population who may be consuming GLP-1 RAs [receptor agonists] in contraindicated ways to maintain eating disorder psychopathology through rapid restriction and weight loss," the authors wrote.