Ozempic’s latest health benefit may be cutting dementia risk

Another week, and another study has emerged pointing to a way that GLP-1 receptor agonists may benefit human health.

An observational study carried out by researchers at Oxford University published in The Lancet journal eClinical Medicine has suggested that people who use Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic (semaglutide) for diabetes had a lower risk of cognitive problems, as well as less dependence on nicotine.

The scientists weren’t looking for a benefit – in fact, they were running the trial to investigate a concern that Ozempic may be linked to adverse neuropsychiatric events including suicidal thoughts – so the finding has come as a surprise.

“Our results suggest that semaglutide use could extend beyond managing diabetes, potentially offering unexpected benefits in the treatment and prevention of cognitive decline and substance misuse,” commented Dr Riccardo De Giorgi, clinical lecturer at Oxford and lead author of the study.

The team reviewed electronic health records (EHRs) from more than 100 million patients in the US, including over 20,000 who were taking Ozempic. They looked at their risk of developing neurological and psychiatric conditions like dementia, depression, or anxiety in the first year of use, and compared that to a control group using three other commonly used diabetes medicines.

Ozempic users were found to have a reduced risk of cognitive deficit compared to those taking sitagliptin and glipizide and were less likely to have dementia than the sitagliptin group. Meanwhile, Novo Nordisk’s drug was associated with a lower risk of nicotine misuse versus glipizide and empagliflozin.

“The findings of our study therefore not only help reassure the millions of patients relying on semaglutide for diabetes management but, if confirmed, might also have significant implications for public health in terms of reducing cognitive deficit and smoking rates among patients with diabetes,” said De Giorgi.

Semaglutide is already approved for diabetes, obesity, and cardiovascular risk reduction in people who are overweight with underlying risk factors, but along with other drugs in the GLP-1 class has been linked to a broad swathe of other benefits.

For example, the new study emerged just a few days after another research team used the same EHR resource from the US to run another observational study that found the use of GLP-1 agonists was associated with a reduced risk of obesity-associated cancers (OACs).

Meanwhile, clinical trials have pointed to GLP-1 agonist benefits in other indications, including chronic kidney disease, metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH), Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s, and addiction.

The authors of the latest study emphasise that the finding on cognition and nicotine dependence is preliminary and needs to be confirmed in a randomised controlled trial, but say the clean bill of health for neurological and psychiatric conditions is “good news for patients with psychiatric disorders, who are at an increased risk of diabetes.”

Having diabetes is also a risk factor for developing dementia in later life, according to the Alzheimer’s Association.

Novo Nordisk is already running two trials of semaglutide in patients with early Alzheimer’s disease – Evoke and Evoke+ – with data expected in 2025.

Commenting on the study, Prof John Wilding of the University of Liverpool said that while the researchers have used well-validated statistical methods to try and match characteristics of people who took semaglutide or comparators, “it is possible that there are other differences between these people that were not recorded in the database that explain these observations.”