Presentation (CTI)

OBJECTIVES: To describe baseline clinical and healthcare resource utilization (HCRU) characteristics of patients with obesity, or overweight in the presence of ≥1 obesity-related comorbidity (ORC), from a study comparing initiation of semaglutide 2.4 mg versus no treatment with anti-obesity medication (non-treated).
METHODS: This retrospective observational study utilized closed pharmacy and medical claims data from the Komodo Health database (June 1, 2021-April 30, 2024). Clinical characteristics and HCRU were assessed ≥12 months prior to index date (date of first semaglutide 2.4 mg fill for the semaglutide cohort and date of a random visit with body mass index (BMI) measurement for the non-treated cohort) in eligible patients aged ≥18 years. Included patients had ≥1 BMI measurement and no prior GLP-1 use.
RESULTS: Of the 32,933 and 15,406,569 patients in the 2.4 mg semaglutide and non-treated cohorts, respectively, 76.8% and 53.1% were female and mean (standard deviation [SD]) age was 46.7 (10.8) and 51.6 (15.8) years. The prevalence of ORCs was largely similar between cohorts, but some were less prevalent in the semaglutide 2.4 mg versus the non-treated cohort, e.g. type 2 diabetes (5.8% vs 20.1%), cardiovascular disease (CVD) (47.1% vs 56.4%), and atherosclerotic CVD (3.7% vs 10.3%). Across the baseline period, the mean (SD) number of ≥1 emergency room visits was lower in the semaglutide 2.4 mg versus non-treated cohort, at 1.7 (1.4) versus 2.0 (2.7), respectively. However, the mean (SD) number of ≥1 outpatient visits was higher in the semaglutide 2.4 mg cohort versus non-treated cohort at 19.3 (18.2) versus 17.2 (22.0), respectively.
CONCLUSIONS: In this study, patients in the non-treated cohort had a higher prevalence of some ORCs at baseline, and higher usage of emergency room visits than those initiating semaglutide 2.4 mg. These findings highlight an unmet need among patients meeting the criteria for chronic weight management therapy.