Rambam Maimonides Medical Journal
Neuropsychiatric Safety of GLP-1 Receptor Agonists and Tirzepatide in Adults with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus or Obesity
By Het Tushar Jani, Helisse Levine, Abhiraj Patel and 2 others.
Abstract
Objective
Neuropsychiatric safety concerns about glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs) and tirzepatide prompted regulatory review by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). We synthesized the contemporary evidence in adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus or obesity, emphasizing study design, risk of bias, and the distinction between signal detection and causal inference.
Methods
The PubMed/MEDLINE, Embase, Web of Science, and Scopus databases were searched without a lower date limit through March 15, 2026 (English, adults ≥18 years). The review was reported with reference to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) 2020, and the PRISMA-S and PRISMA-Harms extensions. Evidence was grouped into prespecified categories: randomized syntheses, comparative observational studies and target-trial emulations, outlier non-active-comparator studies, pharmacovigilance analyses, and regulatory reviews. Risk of bias was appraised with the Cochrane Risk of Bias 2 tool and with Risk of Bias in Non-randomised Studies of Interventions; certainty was summarized using Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation.