GLP-1 Patient Experiences in Jeddah

A survey of 365 adults treated at three public hospitals in Jeddah found mixed views of anti-obesity medicines. Participants reported nausea, fatigue and other symptoms, while many also said cost and limited reliable information were problems. The result is a record of patient reports at one point in time. Cause remains unknown. This was not a clinical trial, and it cannot show that semaglutide, tirzepatide or another medicine caused any symptom or perception^[1][2].

That distinction is especially important for the paper's most sensitive number. Depressive symptoms or suicidal thoughts were reported by 27.9% of respondents. The questionnaire grouped those experiences together, relied on participant reports and did not independently verify whether an event began after treatment. The authors explicitly warned that the figure could reflect pre-existing mental-health burden, selection bias or the way symptoms were collected. It should not be presented as a drug-attributable event rate^[1].

What the Jeddah survey measured

Researchers enrolled Arabic-speaking adults with prior exposure to at least one licensed anti-obesity medicine at King Fahad Hospital, East Jeddah Hospital and King Abdullah Medical Complex. Recruitment ran from June 2025 through February 2026. The questionnaire covered demographic and clinical information, medicine use, perceived effectiveness, access and safety experiences. The team reviewed the questionnaire's content and piloted it with 10 participants before using descriptive statistics for the main analysis^[1].

The median participant age was 41 years. Women made up 55.3% of the sample, 72.6% of respondents with nationality data were Saudi, and 79.7% lived in the Western region. Current anti-obesity medicine use was reported by 231 people, or 63.3% of the sample. More than half reported type 2 diabetes, and many also reported hypertension or high cholesterol. Selection matters because this was a hospital-based group with substantial cardiometabolic illness, not a representative sample of everyone using weight-loss medicine in Saudi Arabia^[1].

Which medicines respondents reported using

Tirzepatide was the most frequently reported medicine, used by 109 participants, or 29.9% of the full sample. Semaglutide followed at 103 participants, or 28.2%, and liraglutide at 82 participants, or 22.5%. The paper also included orlistat. That mixed exposure matters: class-wide percentages cannot be assigned to one brand or molecule. Our tirzepatide evidence overview and semaglutide evidence overview keep medicine-specific trial results separate^[1].

Most participants said a doctor prescribed the medicine, at 59.7%, while 28.8% listed pharmacist dispensing and 8.2% listed online ordering. The paper does not report enough detail to determine whether each product was used under its approved indication, at what dose or for how long a specific participant remained under clinical supervision. Those missing details limit comparisons among the medicines^[1].

How to read the symptom reports

Nausea was the most commonly reported symptom, at 47.4%. Fatigue was reported by 37.8%, diarrhea by 37.5% and constipation by 36.4%. The questionnaire also recorded the combined depressive-symptoms-or-suicidal-thoughts response at 27.9%. These are high patient-reported proportions, but the survey did not adjudicate events, establish their timing or compare exposed respondents with an unexposed control group. Prompted questionnaires can also capture nonspecific symptoms that a clinical trial might classify differently^[1].

Nearly two-thirds of respondents, 64.1%, said adverse effects had been reported to a healthcare provider. That suggests many participants discussed symptoms within care, but it does not confirm a diagnosis or prove the medicine was responsible. Anyone experiencing new or worsening mood symptoms, suicidal thoughts or severe physical symptoms should seek prompt professional help rather than use a survey percentage to judge personal risk. The safety sections for semaglutide and tirzepatide summarize medicine-specific evidence and label context^[1].

Information, cost and perceived effectiveness

The survey points to an information gap. A total of 44.7% strongly disagreed that they had received adequate information from reliable sources. Nearly half, 49%, disagreed or strongly disagreed that the cost was reasonable. Effectiveness was the most frequently selected factor in treatment decisions, reported by 75.9%, yet 52.9% strongly disagreed that anti-obesity medicines had been effective for weight loss^[1].

Those responses should not be treated as efficacy estimates. The study did not record longitudinal weight change, dose, adherence or reasons for discontinuation. A respondent's view could reflect early treatment, expectations, access interruptions, tolerability or an individual response. The survey can identify where patients report friction. It cannot determine whether counseling, insurance coverage or a different medicine would improve outcomes^[1].

Measured weight status and self-perception differed

Based on measured BMI categories, 48.6% of participants had obesity, while 33.9% perceived themselves as having obesity. The distribution across actual and perceived categories differed statistically (Fisher's exact test, p = 0.001). This is a cross-sectional comparison inside the same selected hospital sample. It does not show that misperception caused medicine use, poor adherence or any health outcome^[1].

Denominators vary because some participants did not answer every item. The paper reports 365 completed questionnaires, age and BMI data for 363 people, nationality data for 318, and perceived BMI categories for 353. Keeping those denominators visible is more accurate than treating every percentage as if all 365 people answered the same question^[1].

What we do not know yet

The survey cannot estimate incidence, compare the safety of individual medicines or establish cause and effect. It excluded non-Arabic speakers and recruited through public hospitals, which limits transfer to private clinics, primary care and people using medicines mainly for lifestyle reasons. Recall and social-desirability bias are possible. The authors also lacked detailed dose, adherence, discontinuation and socioeconomic data, and did not independently verify adverse effects or metabolic outcomes^[1].

Prospective research could follow participants from treatment start, record verified events and compare outcomes over time. For now, this paper is useful as a local account of patient concerns in Jeddah. Its strongest signal is not that GLP-1 medicines caused a particular rate of harm. It is that this selected group reported substantial symptom burden, mixed confidence and gaps in information and affordability. The study received no specific funding, and the authors declared no conflict of interest or financial support from a drug company^[1].

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