Read past the pitch
Study averages help. They are not a personal forecast.
Keep the comparison group next to the result. Then ask whether the study matches the reason you are seeking care.
What to check
Look at the comparison in the main weight study.
In the SCALE study, adults without diabetes lost an average of 8.4 kilograms (about 18.5 pounds) over 56 weeks with liraglutide, versus 2.8 kilograms (about 6.2 pounds) with a dummy injection.
A dummy injection, also called a placebo, contains no active study drug.
Look at the direct comparison with another drug.
In the STEP 8 study, average loss over 68 weeks was 6.4% of starting weight with liraglutide and 15.8% with semaglutide (Ozempic, Wegovy).
For a starting weight of 200 pounds, those percentages would be 12.8 pounds and 31.6 pounds; this example explains the percentages, not what you will lose.
People in that study knew which drug they received, and the maker of both medicines paid for the study.
Ask the person treating you how those limits affect their reading of the result. The study could not hide the drug names from people’s expectations, and its funding came from a company with an interest in the results.
Ask what a result leaves unanswered.
Which people were studied? How does that compare with my health history? What trade-offs need discussion alongside weight change?
A note before moving on
Keep the people studied with the result
LEADER studied heart attacks, strokes, and deaths from heart disease in adults with type 2 diabetes and high heart risk.
It supports a heart benefit for the diabetes product, liraglutide (Victoza), rather than proving the same benefit for the weight product, liraglutide (Saxenda).
The ingredient is the same, but the study was in people with diabetes. A study average is not an amount of weight that any one person will lose.
Open the record
Read this for the detail
- SCALE: the original weight-trial paper
PubMed’s summary gives the drug and comparison results together.
- STEP comparison: the original paper
Read who was studied and how the trial was run before focusing on its result.
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