Independent · non-commercial · publishes on a quarterly cycle|Current cycle 2026 Q3
Compound Evidence InstituteEvidence synthesis · established 2023Graded assessments of compounds, trials, methods and supply
Document set current to 30 July 2026
Evidence synthesis · §3

Tirzepatide in obesity and overweight in adults: tolerability and discontinuation — included and excluded studies

The included-studies table with extracted data, the exclusions with reasons, and the risk-of-bias judgements.

Document identifier
CEI-ES-078/3
Series
Evidence synthesis
Version
2.1
Published
26 Apr 2026
Last reviewed
26 Apr 2026
Next review
26 Oct 2027
Identifier
10.71829/cei.syn.78
Certainty
High
Cycle
2026 Q2
Review type
Safety review
Search executed
12 Feb 2026

Templated review frame. This review question was generated by crossing an indication with a compound for which contributing trials exist. Its prose frame is templated and is shared with other questions of the same shape. Its included studies, its summary of findings and its certainty rating are computed from the underlying records and are not templated. The Institute publishes these questions because the alternative is to leave a question the document set can answer unanswered, and it labels them because the alternative is to present a templated frame as an authored one.

§3Included and excluded studies

Every study contributing to this review is listed below with the data extracted from it. The extraction table is published at the level of the individual outcome and study so that the synthesis can be checked without the reader having to retrieve each source.

§3.1Included studies

Table 4. Included studies with the characteristics extracted from each.

StudyDesignRandomisedDurationAnchor outcome as reportedYear
SURMOUNT-5TirzepatideRandomised, open-label, active-controlled75172 weeksMean change −20.2 % with tirzepatide versus −13.7 % with semaglutide2025
SURMOUNT-KOATirzepatideRandomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled68 weeksImprovement relative to placebo. The Institute records that pain improvement in a weight-loss trial cannot be attributed to a direct joint effect2025
SUMMITTirzepatideRandomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled731Median 104 weeksHazard ratio 0.62 (95 % CI 0.41 to 0.95) for the composite; clinical summary score difference 6.9 points (95 % CI 3.3 to 10.6)2024
SURMOUNT-4TirzepatideRandomised withdrawal67052 weeks after a 36-week open-label lead-inContinued treatment −5.5 % versus +14.0 % after switching to placebo2024
SURMOUNT-OSA-1TirzepatideRandomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled52 weeksSubstantial reduction in the apnoea–hypopnoea index relative to placebo; the Institute reproduces the pooled programme estimate rather than a per-trial figure2024
SURMOUNT-OSA-2TirzepatideRandomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled52 weeksDirectionally consistent with the companion trial2024
SURMOUNT-2TirzepatideRandomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled93872 weeksMean change −14.7 % at 15 mg versus −3.2 % with placebo2023
SURMOUNT-3TirzepatideRandomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled80672 weeks after a 12-week lead-inAdditional mean change −18.4 % versus +2.5 % with placebo after the lead-in2023
SURMOUNT-1TirzepatideRandomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled2,53972 weeksMean change −20.9 % at 15 mg versus −3.1 % with placebo2022
9 included studies. Each links to its structured abstract, which carries a field-by-field provenance table distinguishing extracted figures from Institute reconstructions.

Contributing participants across studies reporting a randomised total: 6,435. Studies for which the Institute does not hold a randomised total contribute to the qualitative synthesis and not to any pooled figure.

§3.2Excluded at full text, with reasons

Table 5. Reports excluded at full text, by reason. A review that reports an exclusion count without reasons cannot be checked against its own protocol.

Reason for exclusionReports
Not a randomised comparison3
Population outside the review question5
Intervention outside the review question4
Comparator not eligible6
No eligible outcome reported6
Duplicate report of an included study2
Conference abstract without extractable data2
Retracted or subject to an expression of concern3
24 reports excluded at full text in total.

§3.3Risk of bias across included studies

Table 6. Risk-of-bias judgement recorded for each included study on the review's anchor outcome.

StudyRisk of biasInconsistencyIndirectnessImprecisionPublication bias
SURMOUNT-5LowLowLowLowLow
SURMOUNT-KOALowLowSomeSomeLow
SUMMITLowSomeLowLowLow
SURMOUNT-4LowLowLowLowLow
SURMOUNT-OSA-1LowLowLowLowLow
SURMOUNT-OSA-2LowLowLowLowLow
SURMOUNT-2LowLowLowLowLow
SURMOUNT-3LowLowLowLowLow
SURMOUNT-1LowLowLowLowLow
Judgements are the Institute's own and are recorded per outcome. A study may carry a different judgement in a different review that assesses a different outcome from it.

References cited on this page

References are numbered in order of first citation in this document. Each superscript in the text links to its entry below.

  1. Jastreboff AM, Aronne LJ, Ahmad NN, Wharton S, Connery L, Alves B, Kiyosue A, Zhang S, Liu B, Bunck MC, Stefanski A. Tirzepatide once weekly for the treatment of obesity. New England Journal of Medicine 2022;387(3):205–216. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa2206038 · PMID 35658024

Identifiers are reproduced only where the Institute holds them. Where a digital object identifier or PubMed identifier is not shown, the Institute has recorded the journal and year and has not constructed an identifier.

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