- Question
- Can tirzepatide reduce the severity of obstructive sleep apnea in people with obesity?
- Design
- Two phase 3, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trials (1:1 allocation) within a master protocol, enrolling 469 participants in total. Trial 1 enrolled patients not receiving positive airway pressure (PAP) therapy and trial 2 enrolled patients already using it. Treatment lasted 52 weeks.
- Population
- Adults with moderate-to-severe obstructive sleep apnea and obesity. Mean baseline apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) was 51.5 events per hour in trial 1 and 49.5 in trial 2, with mean BMI of 39.1 and 38.7, respectively.
- Intervention
- Once-weekly subcutaneous tirzepatide at the maximum tolerated dose (10 mg or 15 mg), with dose escalation of 2.5 mg every 4 weeks, for 52 weeks.
- Control
- Once-weekly subcutaneous placebo for 52 weeks.
- Primary outcome
- Change in AHI (number of apneas and hypopneas per hour of sleep) from baseline to week 52.
- Results
- In trial 1, the estimated treatment difference in AHI change was -20.0 events per hour (95% CI, -25.8 to -14.2; P<0.001) favoring tirzepatide (-25.3 vs -5.3 with placebo). In trial 2, the difference was -23.8 events per hour (95% CI, -29.6 to -17.9; P<0.001) (-29.3 vs -5.5). Tirzepatide also improved all key secondary end points: body weight, hypoxic burden, patient-reported sleep disturbance, hsCRP and systolic blood pressure.
- Safety
- The most frequent adverse events with tirzepatide were gastrointestinal, mostly mild to moderate in severity.
- Conclusion
- In people with moderate-to-severe obstructive sleep apnea and obesity, tirzepatide significantly reduced AHI and improved body weight and other cardiometabolic markers compared with placebo.
- Why it matters
- It provided evidence that a drug aimed at obesity can treat obstructive sleep apnea, both in patients using PAP and those not using it, broadening the options beyond positive pressure devices.
Card generated automatically with AI from the abstract of the original publication and the trial registry; every figure was checked against those sources. It may contain errors: verify the data at the source before using it for clinical decisions.
Generated on October 14, 2026