A new study out of Pennsylvania adds to the list of health concerns regarding the use of a popular class of weight-loss and diabetes drugs.

The study by the Danville-based Geisinger Medical Center found that the class of drugs — GLP-1s — may make it unsafe for patients to undergo a common gastroenterology procedure.

Researchers from the medical center along with a team from the Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine determined that patients who had taken the drugs prior to a procedure experienced adverse situations, including three times higher the likelihood of having to abort the procedure.

Researchers found that among 756 patients with diabetes who took GLP-1s and had an endoscopy procedure, known as EGD, patients were:

• Four times more likely to have retained food in their stomach during the procedure
• About three times more likely to have aborted procedures
• Twice as likely to need a repeat EGD

Among 166 patients without diabetes who took GLP-1s and had an EGD, those patients were:

• About five times more likely to have retained food in their stomach
• Five times more likely to have aborted procedures
• As likely as nonusers to need another EGD

GLP-1s, such as the popular Ozempic medication, have become widely popular for treating obesity by mimicking a hormone called glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1), which is associated with appetite regulation. Semaglutide was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in 2017, under the name Ozempic, to treat type 2 diabetes, and later, in 2021, as Wegovy, for the treatment of obesity.

The medications, however, have made headlines in recent months following major medical studies finding a slew of adverse side effects — some life-threatening — associated with their use.

A paper published in late 2023 in JAMA, for example, detailed gastrointestinal adverse events ranging from nausea to pancreatitis.

Harvard Medical School this year published a report on the side effects of GLP-1 drugs, including common ones, such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and constipation; and less common but riskier ones such as pancreatitis, gastroparesis (digestion process is slowed or stopped); bowel obstruction, and gallstone attacks.

GLP-1s decreases how fast the stomach empties, regardless of a patient’s diabetes status, the Geisinger study found.

“Having food in the stomach during one of these procedures can increase the risk as well as decrease the ability of your doctor to perform a complete examination,” said Dr. Amitpal S. Johal, Geisinger chair of gastroenterology and one of the co-authors of the study, in a press release.

The Geisinger data was collected from 2019 to 2023 on 35,183 patients who had an endoscopy procedure, according to a press release.

An EGD, or upper endoscopy, is one of the most common diagnostic procedures to examine the lining of the esophagus, stomach and first part of the small intestine.

“If you are taking a medication for weight loss, please let you doctor know before scheduling a procedure,” Johal said.

Geisinger, which is among Pennsylvania’s largest employers, operates 134 care sites – including 10 hospital campuses, and Geisinger Health Plan, with 600,000 members in commercial and government plans.