Presentation (CTI)

OBJECTIVES: In England, 64.5% of adults are overweight or obese. Higher body mass index (BMI) is associated with greater healthcare resource use (HCRU), partly due to co-morbidities such as type 2 diabetes (T2D). Semaglutide treatments (glucagon-like peptide-1 [GLP-1] receptor agonists) reduce BMI and improve cardiometabolic risk factors. Healthcare is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). This study aimed to evaluate the environmental impact of semaglutide treatment by estimating the GHG emissions, measured as carbon dioxide equivalents (CO₂e), associated with HCRU in obese patients with T2D, with and without semaglutide treatment.
METHODS: Patient population data, BMI distribution, BMI reduction with semaglutide, and HCRU by BMI category were sourced from published literature. CO₂e values for GP visits, accident and emergency visits, hospitalisations and patient travel were sourced from the Sustainable Healthcare Coalition and published literature. Prescription costs were converted to CO₂e using an emissions factor of 0.581. Differences in annual CO₂e emissions from HCRU were estimated for obese individuals with T2D in England following semaglutide treatment.
RESULTS: At the population level, annual CO₂e emissions from HCRU in obese individuals with T2D were estimated at 10.4 megatonnes. Emissions positively correlated with increasing BMI, ranging from 0.9 to 1.1 tonnes CO₂e per-patient annually for the BMI categories 30-<35 and ≥40, respectively. A 15% BMI reduction led to 5.5% fewer GP visits, 0.5% fewer hospital admissions, and a 14.4% reduction in prescription costs, annually. This equated to 1.2 megatonnes of annual CO₂e savings, representing an 11.5% reduction. This is equivalent to the CO₂e emissions from 278,178 petrol-fueled cars driven for one year.
CONCLUSIONS: Semaglutide treatments lower BMI, reducing HCRU and GHG emissions. Semaglutide could alleviate the obesity burden on the NHS, and support achieving NHS England’s net zero emissions targets. This demonstrates the potential health and environmental value of semaglutide treatments.