A hormone treatment called tesamorelin temporarily raises blood sugar by 7 points more than a placebo in people with HIV after two weeks of treatment, but this effect goes away after six months.

Scientific Claim

Tesamorelin causes a transient increase in fasting glucose by 7 mg/dL compared to placebo at 2 weeks in HIV-infected adults with abdominal fat accumulation.

Original Statement

“Fasting glucose increased in the tesamorelin group compared to placebo between baseline and two weeks (Δ 9 [5, 13] vs. 2 [−3, 8] mg/dL, mean [95% CI]; treatment effect 7mg/dL [95% CI 1, 14], P=0.03, Table 3)”

From study:Effect of tesamorelin on visceral fat and liver fat in HIV-infected patients with abdominal fat accumulation: a randomized clinical trial.

Evidence Quality Assessment

Claim Status

appropriately stated

Study Design Support

Design supports claim

Appropriate Language Strength

definitive

Can make definitive causal claims

Assessment Explanation

The RCT design supports causal language for this specific time-point outcome. The verb 'causes' is appropriate for the observed short-term effect.

Evidence from Studies

Supporting (1)

Effect of tesamorelin on visceral fat and liver fat in HIV-infected patients with abdominal fat accumulation: a randomized clinical trial.

Randomized Controlled Trial

Human

2014 Jul 23-30

Contradicting (0)

No contradicting evidence found

Source Study

Effect of tesamorelin on visceral fat and liver fat in HIV-infected patients with abdominal fat accumulation: a randomized clinical trial.

Score: 73

DOI: 10.1001/jama.2014.8334

Similar Assertions

Even though it reduces belly fat, the injection doesn’t make blood sugar worse or cause diabetes in these patients.

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Tesamorelin helps lower triglycerides, a type of fat in the blood, by about 12% in HIV patients on medication compared to those not taking it. This finding is from the abstract summary - full study details were not available

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A hormone treatment called tesamorelin decreases belly fat by 42 square centimeters more than a placebo in people with HIV who have excess abdominal fat after six months of treatment.

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HIV patients with belly fat who responded to tesamorelin had more lean muscle mass in all four trunk muscles, with increases between 0.64 and 1.08 cm² compared to placebo after 26 weeks.

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For HIV patients with belly fat who responded to this drug, taking tesamorelin for 6 months made their trunk muscles less fatty and more dense, like turning soft muscle into firmer muscle.

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