Efficacy and safety of Semaglutide vs Tirzepatide for Weight Loss in Adults with Overweight
or Obesity, a systematic review and meta-analysis
Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria
Inclusion Criteria
Studies published between 2015 and 2025 were considered eligible.Only studies published in
English were included. The studies like randomized controlled trials (RCTs), retrospective studies
and cohort studies are included in this review. The review included studies that met the following
criteria such as population of adults aged ≥18 years with overweight (BMI ≥25 kg/m²) or obesity
(BMI ≥30 kg/m²), Interventions includes the Studies evaluating the efficacy and safety of
semaglutide or tirzepatide for weight loss. Comparators include placebo or other weight-loss
interventions, including head-to-head comparisons between semaglutide and tirzepatide, the
outcomes include weight loss measured as mean weight change and percentage weight loss as
primary outcome, changes in BMI, waist circumference, adverse events, and treatment
discontinuation due to adverse effects as secondary outcomes.
Exclusion Criteria
Studies involving children, adolescents, or pregnant women were excluded. Studies with
insufficient or unpublished data and case reports, editorials, opinion articles, or reviews without
primary data were excluded. Also the studies evaluating drugs other than semaglutide or
tirzepatide and the animal or preclinical studies were excluded.
Results
13 studies were used for evaluating the efficacy and safety of Tirzepatide and Semaglutide for
weight management and glycemic control in overweight or obese populations. This study included
eleven randomized controlled trials, one retrospective study and one cohort studies with the total
population of 68,147 participants across all the included studies. The populations included adults
with a BMI ≥27 kg/m² considered as overweight or BMI ≥30 kg/m² considered as obese. Studies
involving adolescents (Weghuber et al., 2022) provided additional information regarding the
pediatric management of obesity. Most trials excluded participants with diabetes or other
confounding conditions. Tirzepatide and Semaglutide were the primary interventions that were
administered subcutaneously at varying doses that ranged from 5 mg to 15 mg weekly for
Tirzepatide and 0.25 mg to 2.4 mg weekly for Semaglutide. Some trials include placebo groups
(Garvey et al., 2022; Jastreboff et al., 2022), and others compared Semaglutide with alternative
treatments like Sitagliptin (Seino et al., 2018) or Liraglutide (Rubino et al., 2022).