Diabetes drug semaglutide shows promise in reducing the risk of dementia

Diabetes drug semaglutide shows promise in reducing the risk of dementia

Researchers at Case Western Reserve School of Medicine have found that semaglutide, a popular diabetes and weight loss agent, may reduce the risk of dementia in people with type 2 diabetes (T2D).

Dementia, a condition that slowly makes it harder to remember things and think clearly, occurs when brain cells are damaged and their connections stop working properly. This damage, which worsens over time, can be caused by various modifiable factors, including obesity, T2D, cardiovascular disease, traumatic brain injury, and stroke.

According to the National Institutes of Health, more than 6 million people in the United States are diagnosed with dementia and it causes more than 100,000 deaths each year. Fortunately, research shows that 45% of dementia cases could be prevented by managing modifiable risk factors.

The study, published today in theJournal of Alzheimer's Disease (DOI 10.1177/13872877251351329) suggests that T2D patients had a significantly lower risk of developing dementia compared to other antidiabetic medications. These results were deeper in women and older adults.

Semaglutide, a glucagon-like peptide receptor (GLP-1R) molecule that reduces hunger and regulates blood sugar in T2D, is also the active component in diabetes and weight loss medications that wortunramu. and Ozempic. Semaglutide has shown a wide range of benefits, including a reduction in cardiovascular disease.

The research team, led by biomedical informatics professor Rong Xu Xu Xu, analyzed three years of electronic records from nearly 1.7 million T2D patients nationally. The researchers used a statistical approach that mimics a randomized clinical trial.

They found that the patients who were prescribed the semaglutide had a significantly lower risk of Alzheimer's disease-related dementia than those who took seven other anti-diabetic medications, including other types of GLP-1R-targeting drugs.

"There is no cure or effective treatment for dementia, so this new study provides real-world evidence of its potential impact on preventing or slowing the development of dementia in the high-altitude risk population," said Xu, who also directs the School of Medicine's Center for AI Drug Discovery and is a member of the Cancer Genomics Program at the Case Compremed Cancer Cancer Center is.

Although her findings may support the idea that semaglutide could prevent dementia, the study's limitations limit researchers from making causal conclusions, she said.

Our results indicate that research into the use of semaglutide to prevent dementia needs to be further investigated through randomized clinical trials. “

Rong Xu

Sources: