Tirzepatide and the risk of asthma exacerbations in patients with type 2 diabetes
- Design
- Retrospective cohort · 25712 participants · Hard outcome
- Match to healthy normal-weight adults aged 55–75
- Different population[Auto] Participants had type 2 diabetes (age/BMI not reported in abstract).
- Could weight loss explain it?
- Possibly[Auto] Participants had obesity and/or type 2 diabetes and the abstract does not separate direct drug effects from weight loss or glycaemic improvement.
- Study tier
- Study tier 3[Auto] Observational design; confounding by indication and healthy-user effects cannot be excluded (auto-provisional).
- Assessment
- Version 1 · automatic, not yet reviewed by a person · Sep 13, 2026
Study facts come from the paper. Population match, weight-loss explanation and study tier are our judgments, made against the reference group of healthy normal-weight adults aged 55–75.
[Auto, unreviewed; quoted from abstract conclusions] Among patients with coexisting asthma and T2D, TZP use was associated with a lower risk of acute asthma exacerbations compared with SU and DPP4i, and was associated with lower all-cause mortality compared with SU, DPP4i, and SGLT2i, but not compared with GLP-1RA.
01Findings
What the study reported
- Drugs
- Tirzepatide
- Comparator
- other antidiabetic agents
- Primary outcome
- Not extracted
- Effect
- Not extracted
- 95% confidence interval
- Not extracted
- Follow-up
- Not stated
- Adverse events
- Not extracted
- Limitations
- Auto-classified from abstract only; effect estimates, adverse events and limitations not extracted. Requires manual review.
Who was studied
- Diabetes status
- type 2 diabetes present (all or most)
- Sample size
- 25712
Study quality details
- Study design
- Retrospective cohort
- Sample size
- 25712
- Randomization
- no
- Blinding
- not stated
- Comparator
- active comparator
- Follow up duration
- not stated
- Outcome type
- hard
- Replication
- not assessed (auto)
- Consistency with other evidence
- not assessed (auto)
- Population applicability
- INDIRECT
- Statistical precision
- CI reported: 95% CI, 0
- Risk of bias
- not assessed (auto)
- Funding conflicts
- unclear
- Peer review status
- yes
02Funding
Funding and conflicts
- Funding
- not reported in abstract
- Industry funded
- Unclear
- Manufacturer
- None identified
- Sponsor role
- not reported in abstract
- Author conflicts
- The author(s) declared that this work was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
- Independent replication
- unknown
Funding is shown on every study and never used to score it.
04Source
The source, as retrieved
Abstract
[BACKGROUND] Tirzepatide (TZP), a dual glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP) and glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist, demonstrates anti-inflammatory properties that may benefit patients with asthma and type 2 diabetes (T2D). We sought to assess the comparative effectiveness of TZP versus other antidiabetic agents in reducing acute asthma exacerbations among patients with concurrent asthma and T2D. [METHODS] We conducted a retrospective cohort study using TriNetX US network. Adult patients with asthma and T2D initiating TZP or comparator antidiabetic agents (sulfonylureas [SU], dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors [DPP4i], sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors [SGLT2i], or GLP-1 receptor agonists [GLP-1RA]) between January 2022 and August 2025 were included. Propensity score matching was performed for each comparison. The primary outcome was acute asthma exacerbation and secondary outcome was all-cause mortality. [RESULTS] After propensity score matching, we analyzed 25,712 patients in each TZP versus SU cohort, 23,013 in each TZP versus DPP4i cohort, 30,292 in each TZP versus SGLT2i cohort, and 19,740 in each TZP versus GLP-1RA cohort. TZP was associated with lower risk of asthma exacerbations compared with SU (HR, 0.81; 95% CI, 0.72-0.92) and DPP4i (HR, 0.82; 95% CI, 0.72-0.94). No significant differences were observed versus SGLT2i (HR, 1.12; 95% CI, 0.99-1.27; P = .064) or GLP-1RA (HR, 1.06; 95% CI, 0.91-1.23; P = .49). TZP was associated with the lower risk of all-cause mortality compared with SU, DPP4i, and SGLT2i (all P <.001). [CONCLUSIONS] Among patients with coexisting asthma and T2D, TZP use was associated with a lower risk of acute asthma exacerbations compared with SU and DPP4i, and was associated with lower all-cause mortality compared with SU, DPP4i, and SGLT2i, but not compared with GLP-1RA.