The European Medicine Agency’s safety committee said that people taking GLP-1s should let their doctor know ahead of surgery in order to avoid respiratory complications.
The committee made its recommendation in order to minimize the risk of aspiration and pneumonia aspiration, which is when food or liquid is accidentally inhaled into the airway or when stomach contents go back up into the throat. According to the EMA, aspiration happens in 1 in 900 to 1 in 10,000 procedures that use general anesthesia.
GLP-1s could exacerbate this risk because of their effect on the speed at which the stomach empties. The drug class slows the process down, creating “a biologically plausible increased risk,” the EMA wrote. The agency’s safety committee reviewed data for GLP-1s and didn’t find a causal link between aspiration during surgery and the drug class, but wants patients and their doctors to know about the potential.
GLP-1 product information will be updated with a warning, the agency said.