Name: Local expert weighs in on GLP-1 drugs and cancer risk study
Uploaded: 2025-12-16T22:54:01.124Z
Duration: 3 min 14 s
Description: A Milwaukee-area medical expert is weighing in on a new study examining a possible link between GLP-1 weight loss drugs and cancer risk. The expert says the findings require careful interpretation and urges patients to discuss benefits and risks with their doctors before making changes.

A Milwaukee-area medical expert is weighing in on a new study examining a possible link between GLP-1 weight loss drugs and cancer risk. The expert says the findings require careful interpretation and urges patients to discuss benefits and risks with their doctors before making changes.

Milwaukee

Dr. Jeff Pothoff from UW Health provided insights into several recent health studies, including research on GLP-1 drugs, uterine fibroids, and smartphone use in children. A recent study found that GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic do not reduce cancer risk as previously thought, though more research is needed due to the short follow-up period.

Pothoff also discussed findings that women with uterine fibroids have a higher relative risk of heart disease, but the absolute risk increase remains modest. Additionally, new research indicates that children who have smartphones by age 12 face increased risks of depression, obesity, and sleep problems, highlighting the importance of parental monitoring.

Local expert weighs in on GLP-1 drugs and cancer risk study

We're following several health related stories for you this afternoon and to help us break it all down is Doctor Jeff Pothoff from UW Health Doctor Pothoff. We appreciate your time. Good to see you. New research shows GLP1 drugs like Ozempic do not reduce cancer risk as previously thought. So what should patients know about this? Yeah, this is an interesting area of study because last year we had studies that suggested these GLP1 drugs may reduce the risk of obesity related cancers, about 10 of them. This study looked at about 94,000 diabetics, half of them on GLP1s, and found that they couldn't necessarily say that these GLP1s reduced cancer risk. They also tried to say, you know, do these drugs cause cancer? The answer that looked to be no, but I think it's tricky. We need more research, because in this study, follow-up period of these patients was about a year and a half. Now maybe that's not long enough to see if there's any cancer reduction risk with these medications. I think we'll continue to see research about these GLP1s and the things that they may or may not work for. Yeah, this is just the beginning of what we're learning, it appears. Also want to talk about new research that shows women with uterine fibroids have an 81% higher risk of heart disease. So should women with fibroids be screened differently for heart problems? I think the takeaway from this study is that we probably need to have a little more research funding into the impacts that fibroids in women's might have, especially on their cardiovascular health. This study, you need to actually look at the absolute risk increase, so that 80% increase in women who have fibroids for heart disease is the relative risk. If you look at the absolute risk, the 10-year risk in a woman who has fibroids developing heart disease is 2.4% higher than a woman who does not have fibroids. That's still significant. We need more research, but the 80% number probably not something you have to take too seriously. OK, in this final topic here is a hot topic certainly for parents. Any parents out there listening this afternoon research shows kids with smartphones by age 12 have a higher risk of depression, obesity, even sleep problems. So what should parents know? I think a lot of us as parents really when we think about a smartphone for our kids were thinking about the convenience like they can keep us in a loop like when they need a ride or where they're at. I think this study and there are other ones out there too, really calls into question. What is the potential impact of having smartphones availability of social media on our kids? And like you mentioned, kids at age 12 had a smartphone compared that to those who did not. 1.3 times more likely to suffer from depression. 1.4 times more likely to have obesity. 1.6 times more likely to suffer from inadequate sleep. I think if we do get our kids smartphones as parents, we really need to be carefully monitoring how they're using that. Make sure we're potentially taking that away at night, so they're getting sleep and asking questions about their mental health as it seems like there are some pretty substantial risks with providing this technology to our kids. Yeah, it's a big decision. A lot of factors to consider. Doctor Jeff Pothoff from UW Health. Thanks for your time and for your insight this afternoon.

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