July 30, 2024 – Diabetes and weight reduction drugs resembling Ozempic and Wegovy show promise in aiding smoking cessation and offer users surprising additional advantages.
Compared with people taking other antidiabetic medicines resembling insulin, those taking semaglutide (the lively ingredient in Ozempic) were as much as 32% less more likely to see a health care provider for tobacco use disorder. Results published on Tuesday within the magazine Annals of Internal MedicineTobacco use disorder is the scientific term for a pattern of tobacco use that indicates dependence or addiction.
For the study, researchers analyzed the electronic health records of about 6,000 individuals with type 2 diabetes who were taking semaglutide, which is marketed under the brand name Ozempic to treat type 2 diabetes and under the name Wegovy to treat obese and obesity-related conditions. To assess the consequences of semaglutide on tobacco dependence, researchers checked out whether patients were diagnosed with tobacco use disorder during doctor visits, prescribed smoking cessation medications, or referred to smoking cessation counseling.
In addition to being less more likely to have a medical appointment related to a diagnosis of tobacco use disorder, people taking semaglutide were also less likely than people taking other antidiabetic medications to be prescribed smoking cessation medications or to be referred for smoking cessation counseling.
People with and without obesity appear to profit equally.
All study participants began taking semaglutide between December 2017 and March 2023 and had not taken another antidiabetic medicines within the 12 months before starting semaglutide. The biggest effects were seen inside 30 days of starting semaglutide but lasted for about 180 days, after which they typically reached a plateau.
The researchers decided to analyze the problem further after many people who took the drug reported that that they had fewer cravings for cigarettes.
The results are limited in that this was an observational study of individuals's health data and doesn't reflect actual tobacco use, cravings, or whether people quit smoking. Smoking cessation can be often related to weight gain.
However, the authors noted that their findings are essential because smoking is the leading preventable reason behind early death and contributes to among the world's commonest diseases, resembling heart disease and cancer. Nearly 12% of adults within the United States smoke.
The reason why drugs like semaglutide can assist people quit smoking is unclear, the authors write, but early research suggests the drug affects the brain's reward system. Other recent studies have linked semaglutide with advantages for individuals with Alcohol use disorder and for individuals with Cannabis use disorder.
The effects of semaglutide on tobacco use must be further investigated using more rigorous randomized control trials, the authors said, but they cautioned that these latest findings should not concrete enough to justify off-label use of semaglutide to support smoking cessation.