---
type: source
title: "Pharmacovigilance Study of GLP-1 Receptor Agonists for Metabolic and Nutritional Adverse Events"
author: "Frontiers in Pharmacology"
url: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/pharmacology/articles/10.3389/fphar.2024.1416985/full
date: 2024-01-01
domain: health
secondary_domains: []
format: paper
status: processed
processed_by: vida
processed_date: 2026-05-04
priority: low
tags: [glp1, pharmacovigilance, metabolic, nutritional, faers, adverse-events, dehydration]
intake_tier: research-task
extraction_model: "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.5"
---

## Content

Pharmacovigilance analysis of GLP-1 receptor agonists for metabolic and nutritional adverse events across seven agents using FAERS data.

Key signal counts:
- Semaglutide: 20 signals; Dulaglutide: 22 signals; Liraglutide: 16 signals; Exenatide: 12; Tirzepatide: 11; Lixisenatide: 2; Albiglutide: 1

ROR values for metabolism/nutrition disorders:
- Semaglutide: ROR 3.34; Liraglutide: ROR 2.78; Exenatide: ROR 2.15

Dehydration as most serious metabolic adverse event:
- Semaglutide: 370 cases (25.10% of serious reports)
- Dulaglutide: 434 cases (20.90%)
- Liraglutide: 318 cases (23.93%)
- Tirzepatide: 70 cases (32.86%)

Authors' conclusion: "GLP-1 RAs have considerable potential for the treatment of eating disorders" despite safety concerns, given appetite-suppressing mechanisms.

## Agent Notes
**Why this matters:** Dehydration emerging as the dominant serious metabolic adverse event is relevant to the eating disorder risk story — dehydration + electrolyte disruption is one of the primary medical complications of both bulimia nervosa (purging) and anorexia nervosa (restricted intake). If GLP-1 GI side effects (nausea, vomiting, diarrhea) induce dehydration, and this is happening in patients with undetected purging behaviors, the harm pathway is amplified.

**What surprised me:** The authors' conclusion that GLP-1s "have considerable potential for the treatment of eating disorders" despite documenting significant adverse events — this optimistic framing in the face of pharmacovigilance signals is itself a data point about the field's willingness to interpret ambiguous evidence favorably.

**What I expected but didn't find:** Any eating disorder-specific adverse event breakdown in a metabolic/nutritional focus paper. The eating disorder signal is covered in the psychiatric pharmacovigilance literature, not here.

**KB connections:**
- [[continuous health monitoring is converging on a multi-layer sensor stack]] — dehydration is one of the first physiological changes that continuous monitoring (CGMs, electrolyte patches) could detect in GLP-1 users at ED risk

**Extraction hints:** Lower priority than other ED sources — useful for the dehydration-ED risk interaction but not primary evidence for the eating disorder signal itself. Recommend citing alongside NEDA/ANAD guidance on hydration monitoring.

**Context:** FAERS pharmacovigilance, lower precision than VigiBase multinational study. Primarily useful for context on the metabolic adverse event profile, not the psychiatric/eating disorder signal.

## Curator Notes (structured handoff for extractor)
PRIMARY CONNECTION: [[continuous health monitoring is converging on a multi-layer sensor stack of ambient wearables periodic patches and environmental sensors processed through AI middleware]]
WHY ARCHIVED: The dehydration finding creates a connection between GLP-1 adverse events and the continuous monitoring space — dehydration + electrolyte monitoring as a GLP-1 safety use case
EXTRACTION HINT: Secondary source for context; cite primarily for dehydration prevalence data, not eating disorder risk specifically.
