This content originally appeared on On a regular basis Health. Republished with permission.
A big latest study suggests that Ozempic and Wegovy don’t increase the danger of suicidal thoughts, a possible side effect that has prompted regulatory investigations in america and Europe.
Each drugs contain the identical energetic ingredient, semaglutide, and are in a family of medicines referred to as GLP-1 receptor agonists, which will help control blood sugar levels and reduce hunger. Regulators within the United States, Europe, and the UK have said they’re investigating cases of suicidal thoughts (also called suicidal ideation) reported in some individuals who took Ozempic, Wegovy, and other GLP-1 drugs.
In the brand new study of greater than 1.8 million U.S. patients, nevertheless, people on Wegovy and Ozempic had a 49 percent to 73 percent lower risk of suicidal thoughts than individuals who were taking other medicines for weight reduction or type 2 diabetes, in line with results published January 5 in Nature Medicine.
“These findings signal preliminary evidence for the security of semaglutide for those with mental health conditions, who could also be at greater risk of experiencing harm from unwanted effects that cause suicidal thoughts,” says the senior study writer, Rong Xu, PhD, the director of the middle for artificial intelligence in drug discovery at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.
Lower Risk of Suicidal Thoughts With Semaglutide
Researchers examined electronic health records over the six months after people were prescribed semaglutide or a unique medication for weight reduction or for type 2 diabetes.
Nearly 1.6 million participants took semaglutide or one other medicine for type 2 diabetes. For these people, 0.13 percent on semaglutide and 0.36 percent given other drugs experienced suicidal thoughts for the primary time throughout the period examined within the study.
When people had a history of suicidal thoughts, 10 percent on semaglutide and 18 percent given different medicines had recurrent suicidal thoughts throughout the six months.
Amongst greater than 240,000 participants prescribed medicines for weight reduction, 0.11 percent of those on semaglutide had suicidal thoughts for the primary time, compared with 0.43 percent for people taking different weight reduction drugs.
When weight reduction patients already had a history of suicidal thoughts, 7 percent on semaglutide experienced recurrent problems with this, compared with 14 percent of individuals prescribed different weight reduction drugs.
The study wasn’t designed to prove whether or how different GLP-1 drugs or other medicines might directly cause or prevent suicidal thoughts or behaviors.
Weight and Mental Health
It’s not exactly clear why there have been cases of suicidal thoughts observed in some people doping up for weight reduction, says Nora Volkow, MD, a coauthor of the brand new study and the director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse on the National Institutes of Health.
“Some speculate that it pertains to a removal of food as a rewarding stimuli, or to the associated changes in peripheral hormones linked with weight reduction,” Volkow says. “The lower level of risk of suicidal ideation in patients treated with semaglutide in comparison with patients treated with other anti-diabetes or anti-obesity medications could reflect the distinct mechanism of pharmacological motion and merits further investigation.”
Shauna Levy, MD, the medical director of the Tulane Weight Loss Center in Recent Orleans, says the brand new study results mirror what she’s seen along with her own patients.
“These results are consistent with what I even have seen from my patients, within the sense that they feel happier after taking GLP-1 agonists,” says Dr. Levy, who wasn’t involved in the brand new study. “I even have not had many patients with suicidal ideation in my practice.”
Levy agreed that the precise reason why semaglutide might mean less risk of suicidal thoughts isn’t clear. At the least initially, weight reduction might be related to improved mood, at the very least partly because obesity is tied to higher rates of depression and anxiety.
RELATED: Unhappy With Your Weight? Don’t Discount Mental Health and Motivation
But more research is required to pinpoint the precise reason for mood shifts related to GLP-1 drugs on the whole or with semaglutide particularly.
Within the meantime, Levy says the brand new study results won’t change how she treats patients. “It remains to be incredibly necessary to observe patients rigorously for any preexisting conditions or any changes in mental health following usage of GLP-1 agonists,” Levy says. “It’s important that patients who’re taking GLP-1 agonists are followed closely by a medical skilled.”