Four years in, weight was still 10.2% below where it started
In 17,604 people with heart disease, weight fell for 65 weeks and then held: at week 208 it sat 10.2% below baseline, against 1.5% on placebo.
What the study found
The longest randomised weight data runs four years and shows 10.2%
Weight kept falling for 65 weeks and then simply stayed down. In 17,604 people with heart disease and no diabetes, mean weight at week 208 was 10.2% below baseline against 1.5% on placebo, with waists 7.7cm smaller against 1.3cm.
The caveat · Older group than the obesity trials
This was a prespecified secondary analysis, not what the trial was built to answer. The 10.2% is lower than the obesity trials' figures because this group was older, already had heart disease and started at a lower body mass index, not because the effect wears off. People came off the drug more often than off placebo.