The Effect of Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 Receptor Agonists on Pain Management in Chronic Pancreatitis: A Real-World Cohort Study.

Authors

Arkadeep Dhali, Rick Maity, Fayaz Khan, Abdul Rafae Faisal, Jyotirmoy Biswas, Adnan Bhat, Sushobhon Ghosh

Published in

Gastro hep advances. Volume 5. Issue 9. Pages 101028. Epub May 27, 2026.

Abstract

Chronic pancreatitis (CP) is a debilitating inflammatory condition characterized by irreversible glandular destruction and intractable pain. Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs) have demonstrated anti-inflammatory properties in preclinical models, yet their impact on clinical outcomes in CP remains unexplored.
In this retrospective cohort study, adult patients (≥18 years) with CP were identified from the TriNetX US Collaborative Network. Patients were stratified into the following two cohorts: those prescribed GLP-1 RAs and a control group without such prescriptions. 1:1 propensity score matching was performed to balance cohorts for age, sex, race, and key comorbidities. Primary outcomes were assessed over a 3-year observation period. Hazard ratios (HRs) were estimated using Kaplan-Meier survival analysis.
After matching, 10,625 patients were included in each cohort (mean age 59.6 ± 13.1 years; 53.7% female). GLP-1 RA users had a 41% lower hazard of initiating chronic opioids (HR 0.59, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.52-0.67; P < .001) and a 42% lower hazard of developing opioid use disorder (HR 0.58, 95% CI 0.48-0.69; P < .001). GLP-1 RA therapy was also associated with a marked reduction in the risk of requiring celiac plexus block (HR 0.51, 95% CI 0.34-0.78; P = .001) and endoscopic pancreatic interventions (HR 0.48, 95% CI 0.41-0.56; P < .001). Furthermore, the risk of undergoing major pancreatic surgery was significantly lower in the GLP-1 RA group (HR 0.44, 95% CI 0.33-0.59; P < .001).
GLP-1 RA use was associated with a substantial reduction in new opioid prescriptions and invasive pancreatic interventions in CP. These findings suggest that GLP-1 RAs may be helpful in symptom control and multidisciplinary management of selected cases.

PMID:
42405290
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 06 Jul 2026.

Read full publication at:
Please sign in to see all details.

Stats

1-terrible, 9-excellent. How would you rate this publication? Sign in in to submit your rating.

Post a comment

You need to be signed in to post comments. You can sign in here.

Comments

There are no comments yet.