GLP-1s may be best known for weight management, but the conversation around these medications is rapidly expanding. Research is now exploring how they intersect with a range of health issues including sleep apnea, reproductive health and conditions such as PCOS.
With women already accounting for 65% of GLP-1 users, that makes the question of who should take a GLP-1 particularly nuanced. A decision about weight management may also need to take into account fertility treatment, plans for pregnancy, menopause symptoms or longer-term metabolic health.
“It's really about treating the whole person. The first thing to answer is this: Is this class of medication for me? Is it safe for me?” said Dr. Janelle Duah, Associate Medical Director at Maven.
Duah joined Dr. Holly Lofton, Associate Professor in the Departments of Surgery and Medicine at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, and Maven OB/GYN Dr. Kathleen Green at Maven’s inaugural Onward conference for a wide-ranging discussion that moved from GLP-1s and weight management into fertility treatment, pregnancy, menopause and cardiovascular health. The breadth of the conversation reflected one of the panel’s central arguments: these areas of women’s health are more connected than traditional healthcare has often allowed for.
Read more about the trends from Onward: Metabolic health, ROI, and the role of AI in healthcare: 4 trends shaping the next decade of women's health
A 2026 review of 47 studies reflects how quickly the science is developing. It found consistent evidence for weight and metabolic benefits among women with obesity, PCOS and infertility, alongside emerging findings around reproductive outcomes. But as the Onward discussion made clear, understanding what GLP-1s can do is only part of the picture. Clinicians also need to understand the person taking them.
Fertility shows why GLP-1 care needs a team
Weight management, fertility treatment and GLP-1 use can intersect, with decisions about fertility medications, egg freezing, IVF and plans to conceive all affecting the clinical conversation.
In her own practice, Duah works with reproductive endocrinologists to understand a patient’s fertility treatment and individual timeline to ensure medication decisions take those plans into account, rather than treating weight as a separate issue. “It takes coordination with all of the providers involved as well as the patient,” she said. Depending on the individual, that process can span several years, making it particularly important for the clinicians involved to understand what they are working toward together.
Pregnancy intentions need to enter the conversation early, too. Duah recalled patients telling her they couldn’t get pregnant before starting a GLP-1, only to return later “with a stroller.” She now discusses pregnancy intentions at the first visit, before medication is started.
It’s a useful illustration of why access to a prescription alone isn’t enough. For someone thinking about their fertility, the right GLP-1 care may require several clinicians to understand what they are working toward together.
Menopause is raising new questions about metabolic health
The connections don’t end with reproductive health. The panel also turned to growing interest in using GLP-1s alongside hormone replacement therapy (HRT) during perimenopause and menopause.
While there isn’t yet established evidence, the experts discussed some promising early findings. Lofton discussed a small study exploring GLP-1s and HRT, describing the results as a “signal” rather than a definitive answer.
“We don’t quite understand the physiology behind it yet,” Lofton said, but the findings reinforce the need to think “not about these things as silos, but about how they overlap.”
Read more about overlapping care needs: How Maven, Color, and Wellthy create real platform integration to support the full spectrum of care needs
That distinction matters as employees encounter a growing volume of information about GLP-1s online. New research can quickly become a headline or social media claim, while the clinical reality may be much more nuanced. Having a clinician who can explain what the evidence does — and doesn’t — show becomes part of responsible access.
For women going through perimenopause and menopause, the conversation also extends beyond weight. Lofton and Green discussed changing body composition, bone health and cardiovascular risk, reinforcing why metabolic health needs to be considered as part of a wider picture.
Women’s health is more than reproductive health
Towards the end of the discussion, moderator Chrissy Farr put the shift directly to the panel: the conversation had started with menopause, pregnancy and fertility, so why had it moved into metabolic and hormonal health?
For Lofton, the answer reflected a broader change in medicine.
“This is part and parcel of medicine moving towards a more holistic, comprehensive view instead of siloed symptoms,” she said. Metabolic health, she added, “isn’t just weight loss. It is truly cardiometabolic.”
That wider lens can change how clinicians interpret someone’s health history. Green pointed to pregnancy complications such as preeclampsia and gestational diabetes, which can carry implications for cardiovascular and metabolic health later in life. A clinician seeing that patient years later may not necessarily know about those earlier complications if their history hasn’t followed them between providers. It’s an example of why genuine platform integration matters — helping different specialists work with a more complete picture of someone’s health, rather than treating each concern in isolation.
That fragmentation is already being felt by patients. In Maven’s recent research, Beyond the Script: The Gap in Women’s Metabolic and Hormonal Care, 54% of women surveyed said they had experienced symptoms being treated as separate problems when they believed they were connected.
Taken together, these examples point to a broader definition of women’s health: one that considers reproductive, hormonal, metabolic and cardiovascular health as interconnected rather than waiting for each issue to be addressed separately.
What this means for employers
For employers considering GLP-1 benefits, the conversation therefore extends beyond whether the medication itself is covered.
Employees may be taking or considering GLP-1s while navigating fertility treatment, planning a pregnancy, entering perimenopause or managing other health conditions. But a benefit designed solely around prescribing and weight loss risks missing those connections.
While the science continues to develop, there are parts of the conversation that employers can act on now: employees need care teams who can determine whether a medication is appropriate for them, understand their wider health history and goals, and involve other experts when their needs overlap.
GLP-1s may have brought metabolic health to the forefront of the conversation, but the bigger shift is in how women’s health itself is understood — not as a collection of separate conditions and life stages, but as a connected picture that changes over time.
Contact Maven to explore how metabolic and hormonal care can fit into your broader women’s health benefits strategy.
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