THURSDAY, March 6, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Preoperative glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist (GLP-1 RA) use is not associated with short-term postoperative aspiration pneumonia, according to a study published online March 4 in JAMA Network Open.

Yuan-Hsin Chen, M.D., M.P.H., from Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, and colleagues conducted a retrospective cohort study to examine whether preoperative GLP-1 RA use is associated with postoperative aspiration pneumonia among adult patients undergoing one of 14 common surgical procedures from April 1, 2020, to Sept. 30, 2022. The study included 366,476 patients; 1.6 percent had a preoperative prescription for GLP-1 RA.

The researchers found that compared with nonusers, patients using GLP-1 RAs were more likely to be female (59.0 versus 56.4 percent) and diagnosed with both obesity and diabetes (47.5 versus 6.8 percent). No significant differences were seen in the odds of postoperative pneumonia between GLP-1 RA users and nonusers in an adjusted analysis (odds ratio, 0.78; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.57 to 1.06; P = 0.12).

“In this cohort study, we found no significant association between GLP-1 RA use and increased short-term postoperative aspiration pneumonia,” the authors write. “This finding suggests that it may be beneficial to reassess the preoperative withholding guidelines for GLP-1 RAs.”

One author disclosed ties to the pharmaceutical industry.

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