Otolaryngology--head and neck surgery : official journal of American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck SurgeryDec 7, 2025

Effects of GLP-1R Agonists on Recovery After Sinus Surgery

GLP-1 Therapies Weekly Brief ↗PubMed ↗DOI ↗

Updated Jan 20, 2026

Abstract

The GLP-1 receptor agonist cohort experienced a 60% reduction in revision surgery rates within 5 years compared to the non-GLP-1 receptor agonist cohort.

Patients with chronic rhinosinusitis and obesity who received GLP-1 receptor agonists had a lower incidence of revision functional endoscopic sinus surgery at both 1 year and 5 years.
The risk ratio for revision surgery at 1 year was 0.64, indicating a significant reduction in the GLP-1RA cohort.
At the 5-year follow-up, the risk ratio for revision surgery was 0.60, reinforcing the association between GLP-1RAs and reduced revision rates.
The first-time prescription rate of biologics was also lower in the GLP-1RA cohort at 5 years, with a risk ratio of 0.72.
Findings suggest a potential link between GLP-1 receptor agonist use and improved surgical outcomes in patients with chronic rhinosinusitis and obesity.

Simplified

OBJECTIVE: Emerging evidence suggests a potential association between chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) and obesity. With the increasing utilization of weight loss medications in the management of obesity, we aimed to assess the impact of glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist (GLP-1RA) prescription on the revision rate of functional endoscopic sinus surgery (FESS) and the use of biologics post-FESS.

STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective cohort analysis.

SETTING: US Collaborative Network within the TriNetX Analytics platform.

METHODS: We queried the TriNetX Analytics platform for all adult CRS with nasal polyps (CRSwNP) patients with obesity who have undergone at least one prior FESS (based on Current Procedural Terminology [CPT] code). The incidence of revision surgery and first-time biologic prescriptions (dupilumab, mepolizumab, and omalizumab) within a 1- and 5-year follow-up period was assessed, comparing those with and without GLP-1R agonist prescriptions.

RESULTS: After 1:1 propensity matching, there were a total of 1391 patients in each patient group. The GLP-1RA cohort had a significantly reduced incidence of revision FESS compared to the non-GLP-1RA cohort at 1-year (RR: 0.64; 95% CI: 0.41-0.98, P = .04) and 5-year follow-up periods (risk ratio [RR]: 0.60; 95% CI: 0.44-0.0.81, P = .001). At the 5-year follow-up, the first-time biologic prescription was lower in the GLP-1RA cohort compared to the non-GLP-1RA cohort (RR: 0.72; 95% CI: 0.52-0.98, P = .04).

CONCLUSION: Our results indicate that GLP-1RAs are associated with reduced postoperative revision FESS at up to a 5-year follow-up in CRSwNP patients. Future mechanistic and prospective studies are needed to confirm the association between GLP-1R agonists and improved post-sinus surgery outcomes identified in this study.

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Effects of GLP-1R Agonists on Recovery After Sinus Surgery

Abstract

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