CNN: www.cnn.com/2026/03/18/h...
USA Today: www.usatoday.com/story/money/...
CNBC: www.cnbc.com/2026/03/18/s...
TIME: time.com/article/2026...
Thread with data here: bsky.app/profile/zala...
The finding that stopping GLP-1 drugs can undo years of heart protection is resonating.
Coverage from CNN, TIME, USA Today, CNBC, Gizmodo, and others.
What 3 years of continuous treatment builds, ~1.5 years off the drug can erase.
You are welcome.
it is called being wise. You are wise.
The heavy lifting here was done by the amazing Yan Xie (fist author).
Paper:
bmjmedicine.bmj.com/content/5/1/...
Press release by the wonderful Shawn Ballard: medicine.washu.edu/news/stoppin...
Weight regain is visible. The metabolic reversal is not. Stopping can undo years of heart protection.
GLP-1 drugs are not short-term treatments. They are long-term treatments, and patients, providers, and insurers all need to reckon with that.
When people stop, it's not just weight that returns. Inflammation, blood pressure, cholesterol, insulin resistance — all rebound. This metabolic whiplash raises cardiovascular risk.
Restarting helped — but didn’t fully restore the protection of uninterrupted use. Discontinuation leaves a lasting scar.
And this happened in the VA, where copays are $11/month. Cost matters, but it’s far from the only reason people stop.
The most striking finding:
What 3 years of continuous treatment builds, ~1.5 years off the drug can undo.
Taking the drug for 0.5, 1, or 1.5 years then stopping? No significant heart benefit at 3 years. As if it were never taken.
Cardiovascular protection built slowly — 3 years of continuous use for an 18% reduction in major cardiovascular events.
But that protection eroded fast.
6 months off: +4% risk
1 year off: +14% risk
2 years off: +22% risk
About 1 in 8 U.S. adults has taken a GLP-1 drug.
But 36–81% of users stop within the first year.
Most studies have focused on weight regain after stopping. We focused on what happens to the heart.
What happens to the heart when people stop GLP-1 drugs?
The short answer: nothing good.
333,000+ adults. 3 years. 16 treatment scenarios. New in @bmjmedicine.bsky.social 🧵
Merci, Nancy! Thank you very much for this and hope you are doing great.
You are right. Best way to avoid infection altogether. Even mild infection can lead to Long Covid.
Thanks, Eric.
Thank you!
I like this idea. Will explore feasibility.
I joined Dr. Susan Kuo from @longcovidcan-co.bsky.social to talk about Long COVID — what we've learned, where we are, and what's ahead.
youtu.be/T3WD-tTFSWQ
Thank you, Eric.
For your weekend reading: I wrote about what our BMJ findings mean for addiction — why GLP-1s work across every addictive substance, and how these drugs seem to quiet cravings the same way they quiet food noise.
@us.theconversation.com
theconversation.com/glp-1-drugs-...
there are adverse side effects too, and quite a bit of unknown. These are exciting results, but there is a lot more to learn.
These findings point to a common druggable biologic pathway across addictions. GLP-1 drugs may offer a fundamentally new approach—not targeting individual substances, but the shared neurobiology of craving itself. Randomized trials testing prevention and treatment of addiction are needed.
What's most striking is the breadth. One drug class, consistent effects across substances. That points to a shared biologic pathway: something I've been calling "drug noise"—the relentless craving that pulls people back to a substance, paralleling the "food noise" these drugs are known to quiet.
New in the BMJ: Our study of 600,000 people found GLP-1 drugs associated with 50% fewer substance-related deaths, 39% fewer overdoses, and reduced addiction risk across alcohol, opioids, cocaine, cannabis, and nicotine.
www.bmj.com/content/392/...
Please help us spread the word.
We are hiring postdoctoral fellows in Clinical Epidemiology and Pharmacoepidemiology.
Details and application via Indeed.
Honored to speak at Harvard’s Radcliffe Institute workshop on #LongCOVID. I am energized by our 2 days of brainstorming about the road ahead. The challenges are real, but I’m leaving hopeful. Millions living with Long Covid are counting on our progress—we must keep keep pushing forward!!!
