Current Status of Safety Research on Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 Receptor Agonists for Obesity Treatment: A Scoping Review

Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs) have been increasingly used for obesity treatment following their approval for weight reduction, accompanied by growing safety concerns.This scoping review mapped the current landscape of domestic and international research on adverse drug events associated with GLP-1 RAs for obesity treatment.Literature published after 2021 was systematically identified through PubMed and Google Scholar.A total of 40 studies were included, comprising one domestic and 39 international studies.The predominant study designs were real-world cohort studies using electronic medical records or claims data, systematic reviews and meta-analyses, and pharmacovigilance signal detection studies.Semaglutide and liraglutide were the most frequently evaluated agents.Gastrointestinal disorders were the most commonly reported adverse drug events, followed by psychiatric, eye, metabolic and nutritional, nervous system, cardiac, and neoplastic disorders.Across studies, reporting of certain adverse events-such as suicidal ideation or behavior, malignancies, and non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy-was heterogeneous.These inconsistencies likely reflect differences in study design, populations, follow-up duration, and outcome definitions rather than definitive causal relationships.Some observational studies reported long-term clinical outcomes alongside adverse events; however, these findings were interpreted as contextual information to aid understanding of heterogeneous safety signals, not as evidence of causal safety effects.This review highlights the need for continuous, multidimensional safety monitoring of GLP-1 RAs as clinical use expands.By providing a comprehensive overview of existing safety evidence, this scoping review offers a foundation for future study design, risk assessment strategies, and national pharmacovigilance and monitoring frameworks.(PeRM 2026;18:18-28)