ArticleBMJ (Clinical research ed.)2024
Glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonist use and risk of thyroid cancer: Scandinavian cohort study.
Article in BMJ (Clinical research ed.), 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 73 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
73 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Efficacy and safety of glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonists across all health outcomes in type 2 diabetes: An umbrella review and evidence map of randomised controlled trials.Diabetes, obesity & metabolism · 2026Pooled it
- Cancer outcomes and biological mechanisms among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus using glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in oncology · 2026Pooled it
- A systematic review of transgender male rodent model methodology.Animal models and experimental medicine · 2025Pooled it
- GLP-1 Receptor Agonists and Obesity Related Cancers: What We Know So Far.Current oncology reports · 2026Review
- Modulation of the tumor microenvironment by incretins and glucagon: Metabolic and immune mechanisms (Review).Experimental and therapeutic medicine · 2026Review
- Insulin Resistance as a Systemic Metabolic Risk State for Cancer: Mechanisms, Biomarkers, and Prevention.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Exposure to GLP-1RA and Risk of Structural Progression in Differentiated Thyroid Cancer.The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism · 2026Observational
- GLP-1 receptor agonists as multisystem therapies: from glycemic control to cardiorenal, neuroimmune, and metabolic disease.Diabetology & metabolic syndrome · 2026Review
- Toxicological profile of anti-diabetic drugs and emerging measures to reduce the toxic burden.Toxicology reports · 2026Review
- Balancing the benefits and risks of GLP-1 receptor agonists: a clinical guide for shared decision-making.EClinicalMedicine · 2026Review
- Adiposity and cancer: epidemiology, mechanisms and future perspectives.Nature metabolism · 2026Review
- Glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonists and cancer risk: the good, the bad and the unknown.Nature reviews. Clinical oncology · 2026Review
- Evaluation of the safety profile of glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists: a focus on thyroid cancer-related adverse events by using the European pharmacovigilance database.Pharmacological reports : PR · 2026Article
- Joint Society Statement From the Society for Endocrinology (SfE), the British Thyroid Association (BTA) and the British Association of Endocrine and Thyroid Surgeons (BAETS) Regarding the Association of GLP-1 Agonists and Thyroid Cancer.Clinical endocrinology · 2026Article
- Hongkou Advanced Research on Metabolism and Obesity iNtervention studY (HARMONY): a protocol for a longitudinal cohort study.BMJ open · 2026Article
- Addressing patient concerns about the 'newness' and long-term safety of GLP-1 receptor agonists: A clinician's guide to counseling.American journal of preventive cardiology · 2026Article
- Article
- Review
- Disproportionality Analysis of Tirzepatide vs. Semaglutide and Liraglutide: System Organ Class-Level Post-Marketing Reporting Patterns in EudraVigilance.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Article
- Reply: Time-Related Biases in Observational Studies of GLP-1 Agonists and Cancer Risk.Journal of diabetes · 2026Article
13 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo investigate whether use of glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP1) receptor agonists is associated with increased risk of thyroid cancer.
designScandinavian cohort study.
settingDenmark, Norway, and Sweden, 2007-21.
participantsPatients who started GLP1 receptor agonist treatment were compared with patients who started dipeptidyl peptidase 4 (DPP4) inhibitor treatment, and in an additional analysis, patients who started sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitor treatment.
main outcome measuresThyroid cancer identified from nationwide cancer registers. An active-comparator new user study design was used to minimise risks of confounding and time related biases from using real world studies of drug effects. Cox regression was used to estimate hazard ratios, controlling for potential confounders with propensity score weighting.
resultsThe mean follow-up time was 3.9 years (standard deviation 3.5 years) in the GLP1 receptor agonist group and 5.4 years (standard deviation 3.5 years) in the DPP4 inhibitor group. 76 of 145 410 patients (incidence rate 1.33 events per 10 000 person years) treated with GLP1 receptor agonists and 184 of 291 667 patients (incidence rate 1.46 events per 10 000 person years) treated with DPP4 inhibitors developed thyroid cancer. GLP1 receptor agonist use was not associated with increased risk of thyroid cancer (hazard ratio 0.93, 95% confidence interval 0.66 to 1.31; rate difference -0.13, 95% confidence interval -0.61 to 0.36 events per 10 000 person years). The hazard ratio for medullary thyroid cancer was 1.19 (0.37 to 3.86). In the additional analysis comparing the GLP1 receptor agonist group with the SGLT2 inhibitor group, the hazard ratio for thyroid cancer was 1.16 (0.65 to 2.05).
conclusionsIn this large cohort study using nationwide data from three countries, GLP1 receptor agonist use was not associated with a substantially increased risk of thyroid cancer over a mean follow-up of 3.9 years. In the main analysis comparing GLP1 receptor agonists with DPP4 inhibitors, the upper limit of the confidence interval was consistent with no more than a 31% increase in relative risk.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.