Not Just Weight Loss? NTU Retrospective Study: Potential to Reduce Obesity-Related Cancers

The highly popular 'slimming needle' (GLP-1) may do more than just treat diabetes and aid weight loss—it might even help prevent cancer. Researchers from the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at National Taiwan University Hospital utilized a large U.S. electronic medical records database to analyze non-diabetic obese adults and discovered that those using GLP-1 (the 'slimming needle') had a significantly 41% lower risk of developing obesity-related cancers compared to individuals who received only dietary and exercise counseling. The research has already been published in *Annals of Oncology*, a leading international oncology journal.

GLP-1 receptor agonists have attracted widespread attention due to their remarkable weight-loss effects. However, until now, there has been a lack of large-scale studies providing evidence on whether these drugs can further reduce cancer risk in obese individuals without diabetes. To address this, Dr. Hsu Heng-Cheng and Dr. Chiang Ying-Cheng from NTU Hospital’s Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, along with Yun-Hao Chang—a Ph.D. candidate from Professor Lin Sheng-Hsuan’s team at National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University—and the research team from Houston Methodist in the United States, used the TriNetX database, a large U.S. electronic medical records database containing data from up to 113 million people, to investigate the association between GLP-1 medications and the incidence of obesity-related cancers.

According to Dr. Hsu Heng-Cheng, the study included non-diabetic obese adults (BMI > 30) with no prior history of cancer, drawn from the U.S. electronic database between 2014 and 2015. Using causal inference analysis methods such as propensity score matching and inverse probability treatment weighting, the final analysis included over 160,000 matched cases, with an average follow-up period of two years. The results showed a significant reduction in cancer risk: compared to those managing weight solely through diet or exercise, patients using GLP-1 medications experienced a substantial 41% decrease in the overall risk of developing 13 types of obesity-related cancers in the future.

According to the U.S. National Cancer Institute (NCI), the Chinese translations of the 13 cancers associated with overweight and obesity are as follows: Meningioma — meningioma (cancer of the tissues covering the brain and spinal cord), Thyroid — thyroid cancer, Adenocarcinoma of the esophagus — esophageal adenocarcinoma, Breast (postmenopausal women) — breast cancer (in postmenopausal women), Liver — liver cancer, Multiple myeloma — multiple myeloma (blood cell cancer), Gallbladder — gallbladder cancer, Kidney — kidney cancer, Upper stomach — upper stomach cancer (gastric cardia cancer), Pancreas — pancreatic cancer, Endometrium — endometrial cancer (cancer of the uterine lining tissue), Ovary — ovarian cancer, Colon & rectum — colorectal cancer.

Regarding the clinical significance of this study, Dr. Chen Chi-Hao, Director of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at NTU Hospital, pointed out that endometrial cancer ranks fifth among female cancers in Taiwan, and many patients have obesity as a risk factor. This study’s results indicate that such medications possess excellent potential for cancer prevention. Dr. Chiang Ying-Cheng, Director of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at NTU Hospital’s Hsinchu Branch, also stated, 'We wanted to answer a very practical clinical question: For individuals who are simply obese but not diabetic, does injecting the slimming needle offer benefits beyond weight loss—such as cancer prevention? The answer is yes, there is a significant association. This study confirms the enormous potential of proactive weight management and the use of novel metabolic drugs in cancer prevention.'

Dr. Hsu Heng-Cheng, the lead author of the study and a physician at NTU Hospital’s Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, further emphasized, 'The true value of this study lies in its use of causal inference models to exclude background confounding factors as much as possible. We found that GLP-1 may not merely be a weight-loss drug but could potentially prevent obesity-related cancers through specific mechanisms, offering high-risk groups more proactive cancer protection. However, these findings need to be further confirmed through prospective studies. This study does not mean the drug has a new approved indication; decisions about medication use should always be made in consultation with a physician.'