Diabetes drugs may help alleviate mental health symptoms.
GLP-1 diabetes drugs may help prevent worsening anxiety and depression
Medications widely used to treat type 2 diabetes could help worsening symptom of anxiety and depression, according to new research, analysing long-term patient data
The findings add to growing evidence that GLP-1 receptor agonists may have therapeutic effects beyond glycaemic control and weight management.
Type 2 diabetes affects more than 800 million people globally, with those diagnosed around twice as likely to experience depression.
Researchers analysed Swedish health records from nearly 95,000 patients with a history of anxiety or depression who were prescribed diabetes medications between 2009 and 2022.
Published in The Lancet Psychiatry, the study compared periods when patients were taking GLP-1 drugs with periods when they were not. Worsening mental health was assessed using indicators including psychiatric hospital admissions, mental health-related sick leave, self-harm, and suicide.
Researchers discovered that semaglutide and liraglutide were associated with a reduced risk of worsening mental illness. Semaglutide was linked to a 42% lower overall risk, while liraglutide was associated with an 18% reduction. Other GLP-1 drugs, including exenatide and dulaglutide, did not demonstrate the same effect.
Semaglutide was further associated with a 44% lower risk of worsening depression, a 38% lower risk of worsening anxiety, and a 47% lower risk of worsening substance use disorder.
They said: “For anxiety and depression that co-occur with diabetes and obesity, semaglutide and, to a lesser extent, liraglutide might be useful dually effective therapeutic options.”
Markku Lähteenvuo, research director at the University of Eastern Finland, added: “It is possible that, in addition to factors such as reduced alcohol consumption, weight loss-related improvements in body image, or relief associated with better glycaemic control in diabetes, there may also be direct neurobiological mechanisms involved, for example, through changes in the functioning of the brain’s reward system.”