ReviewJournal of diabetes and metabolic disorders2026
Efficacy and safety of semaglutide versus placebo in adults with overweight or obesity without diabetes: updated meta-analysis of randomized trials.
Review in Journal of diabetes and metabolic disorders, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
15 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Obesity poses significant challenges for those seeking long-term weight loss through diet and exercise alone. Semaglutide is a GLP-1 receptor agonist approved for chronic weight management in eligible adults. Methods: In this systematic review and meta-analysis, we aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of semaglutide for treating obesity in adults without diabetes. The protocol was registered in PROSPERO (CRD420261338170). PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, and ClinicalTrials.gov were searched through February 28, 2026. We included randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing semaglutide with placebo in adults without diabetes with BMI ≥ 30 kg/m Results: We included 10 RCTs with a total of 7,131 participants. Risk-of-bias was judged at the level of each outcome: all included trials were at low risk-of-bias for the efficacy outcomes and the prespecified safety outcomes, while cardiovascular and psychiatric disorders raised some concerns. Compared to placebo, semaglutide produced significantly greater reductions in percentage change in body weight (WMD -12.29%, 95% CI -13.38 to -11.20, I Conclusion: Semaglutide was associated with clinically meaningful weight loss during trial treatment periods in adults with overweight or obesity without diabetes; however, low-certainty evidence and substantial between-study heterogeneity warrant cautious interpretation of the magnitude of benefit. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi.org/10.1007/s40200-026-02108-x.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.