{"id":66478,"date":"2024-01-04T13:57:53","date_gmt":"2024-01-04T18:57:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/?p=66478"},"modified":"2024-01-04T14:03:59","modified_gmt":"2024-01-04T19:03:59","slug":"how-risky-are-weight-loss-drugs-for-older-adults","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/news\/how-risky-are-weight-loss-drugs-for-older-adults\/","title":{"rendered":"How Risky Are Weight Loss Drugs for Older Adults?"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_48058\" class=\"thumbnail wp-caption alignright\" style=\"width: 160px\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-48058\" src=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/945\/2020\/11\/Batsis-John.tdi_-scaled-e1606768582882-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Dr. John Batsis\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><figcaption class=\"caption wp-caption-text\">John Batsis, MD<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>New <span class=\"css-1qaijid r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0 r-poiln3\">anti-obesity <\/span>medications like Ozempic and Wegovy are very popular these days. Although <span class=\"css-1qaijid r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0 r-poiln3\">many people benefit from these new drugs, <\/span>they can be risky for older people. <span class=\"css-1qaijid r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0 r-poiln3\">In fact, <\/span>the downsides of these medications for older patients can be very serious.<\/p>\n<p>Some of the potential risks for people over 60 who take these medications include loss of muscle and bone, nutrient deficiencies, and unintended ongoing weight loss. In addition, the medications are also costly\u2013about $1,500 per month.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"css-1qaijid r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0 r-poiln3\">Associate professor of geriatrics <\/span><span class=\"css-1qaijid r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0 r-poiln3\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/geriatrics\/directory\/john-a-batsis-md\/\">Dr. John Batsis<\/a> says, \u201cthe older you are, the more reason you have to be cautious. Our bodies change with age, so the results in younger people don\u2019t necessarily apply to those who are older.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aarp.org\/health\/drugs-supplements\/info-2023\/anti-obesity-medications-risks.html\">Read the full AARP article.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>New anti-obesity medications like Ozempic and Wegovy are very popular these days. Although many people benefit from these new drugs, they can be risky for older people. In fact, the downsides of these medications for older patients can be very serious. Some of the potential risks for people over 60 who take these medications include &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/news\/how-risky-are-weight-loss-drugs-for-older-adults\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about How Risky Are Weight Loss Drugs for Older Adults?\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":106633,"featured_media":48058,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"layout":"","cellInformation":"","apiCallInformation":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[99,2],"tags":[673],"class_list":["post-66478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-geriatric-medicine","category-news","tag-673","odd"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>How Risky Are Weight Loss Drugs for Older Adults? | Department of Medicine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/news\/how-risky-are-weight-loss-drugs-for-older-adults\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How Risky Are Weight Loss Drugs for Older Adults? | Department of Medicine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"New anti-obesity medications like Ozempic and Wegovy are very popular these days. 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