GLP-1 Receptor Agonists and the Risk of Thyroid Cancer
Bezin J, Gouverneur A, Pénichon M, et al. Diabetes Care 2023;46:384-390.
What it found
In a nested case-control study of the French national health insurance database (2,562 people with thyroid cancer matched to 45,184 controls), 1 to 3 years of GLP-1 receptor agonist use was associated with a higher risk of all thyroid cancer (adjusted hazard ratio 1.58) and of medullary thyroid cancer (1.78).
Limitations
Observational: people on these drugs may have more thyroid checks, which can find more cancers (detection bias). Covers the drug class up to 2018, so it mostly reflects older GLP-1 drugs rather than semaglutide. A large Scandinavian study found no clear increase.
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