Pitt Pediatrics congratulates Silva Arslanian, MD on her November publication in the New England Journal of Medicine. The article, “Once Weekly Semaglutide in Adolescents with Obesity” explores the effect of a once-weekly drug on adolescents with obesity.
Semaglutide, a once-weekly injection, is currently in use to help treat obesity in adults but further research on its application in adolescents has been limited since its FDA approval in June of 2021. Wanting to investigate whether a reduced dosage for adolescents aged 12 to <18 years of age would have an impact on ongoing obesity, Arslanian and her fellow researchers designed a 68-week study involving nearly 200 participants who suffered from obesity and at least one related coexisting condition.
By the end of the trial period, the study concluded that the participants taking the semaglutide drug in addition to lifestyle changes experienced an average reduction in BMI of approximately 16% as compared to lifestyle changes alone, which resembles the effects on adult populations.
These conclusions also indicate that the once-weekly treatment of semaglutide may be equivalent or more effective in treating obesity in adolescent populations than other currently approved drug therapies, of which there are currently only a small handful available.
Further research into adolescent obesity and diabetes is ongoing in the Department of Pediatrics’ Center for Pediatric Research in Obesity and Metabolism (CPROM), of which Arslanian is the Director of. A current list of ongoing patient-oriented research within CPROM can be found here. More information on Arslanian's semaglutide study can be found here.