On dialysis with diabetes, semaglutide users had fewer deaths and hospital stays
☕ Includes a question for the family ↓
Living with dialysisPart of a story we are following · 2 articles · See every update
If you or someone close to you has diabetes and needs dialysis, here is good news. A new US study found that people taking semaglutide had fewer deaths and fewer hospital stays than people taking older drugs in the same family.
That matters because choosing a diabetes medicine is harder when the kidneys have failed. Now doctors have real-world evidence pointing to a better option.
How the study worked
Researchers used national kidney and Medicare records from 2011 to 2022. They followed 1,312 people who started semaglutide and 2,601 who started dulaglutide or liraglutide, for about a year on average. The study appeared in Diabetes Care on Oct. 27, 2026. Because it looked at real records, people were not assigned a drug by chance, so the team used statistical weighting to make the groups as alike as possible.
What is semaglutide, and why dialysis changes the picture?
Semaglutide, dulaglutide and liraglutide are all GLP-1 drugs. They help with blood sugar and with weight. Dialysis is the treatment that cleans the blood when the kidneys no longer can. People on dialysis are usually left out of drug trials, so doctors often have to choose without direct evidence. Studies like this one help fill that gap.
What they found
After one year, fewer people on semaglutide had died, and fewer had been hospitalized:
| At 1 year | Semaglutide | Dulaglutide or liraglutide |
|---|---|---|
| Died while on dialysis | 11% | 13% |
| Hospitalized for any reason | 57% | 62% |
| Body weight lost | 4.8% | 3.4% |
The weight loss on semaglutide was 4.8% of body weight, compared with 3.4% on the other two drugs.
When the researchers compared semaglutide with dulaglutide alone, the results were just as clear: fewer deaths and fewer hospital stays with semaglutide. Against liraglutide alone, the results did not show a clear difference either way. The authors concluded that when a doctor and patient are choosing between these drugs, semaglutide looks like the preferred pick over dulaglutide.
What you can do today
You do not need to change anything on your own. A medicine switch is a decision for you and your care team. What you can do today is get ready for that conversation.
Take five minutes to write one list of every medicine you or your family member takes, including insulin and any diabetes pills, with the doses. Put it in your wallet or phone, and bring it to the next kidney or diabetes visit. Then ask: “Is semaglutide a good fit for me?” A clear list makes it easier for your team to answer well and to adjust doses safely.
Talk about it at home
Some people have kidneys that cannot clean their blood, so a machine does the job. Many of them also have diabetes. Doctors looked at thousands of patient records and found that people on one medicine did a bit better than people on two similar ones.
Question for the table
Here is a question for the table: how can we tell that a medicine really works, and that the people who took it were not simply healthier to begin with?
Keep exploring
Copies this article and its questions so you can paste them into ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or the AI you use, and keep the conversation going.
Questions and answers
- Is semaglutide better than other GLP-1 drugs for people on dialysis?
- In this study, people on semaglutide had fewer deaths at 1 year (11% vs. 13%) and fewer hospital stays (57% vs. 62%) than people on dulaglutide or liraglutide.
- Did people lose weight?
- Yes. After one year, people on semaglutide lost 4.8% of their body weight, compared with 3.4% on the other two drugs.
- Was semaglutide better than liraglutide on its own?
- The study did not show a clear difference between semaglutide and liraglutide alone. The clearest gap was against dulaglutide.
- Should I switch medicines because of this study?
- Not on your own. Bring the results to your kidney doctor and your diabetes doctor, and decide together.
