The diabetes and weight reduction drug Ozempic might decrease the danger of Alzheimer’s illness amongst individuals with Sort 2 diabetes, in response to a brand new research printed Thursday.
Alzheimer’s illness is the seventh-leading explanation for demise in the USA, with roughly 120,000 individuals dying from the illness annually, in response to knowledge from the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention.
There are about 7 million individuals within the U.S. who stay with Alzheimer’s, and that quantity is anticipated to just about double by 2050, in response to the Alzheimer’s Affiliation.
Researchers at Case Western Reserve College Faculty of Medication checked out three years’ value of digital data of just about 1 million individuals with Sort 2 diabetes.
The analysis group discovered that individuals who had been prescribed semaglutide — the primary ingredient in Ozempic — had a 40 p.c to 70 p.c decreased danger of growing Alzheimer’s in comparison with Sort 2 diabetics who took one in every of one other seven sorts of antidiabetic drugs, together with insulin.
Researchers additionally in contrast semaglutide with using different GLP-1s like lixisenatide, dulaglutide and liraglutide.
Semaglutide’s attainable danger discount for Alzheimer’s was seen throughout gender identities, age and weight teams, the research notes.
The research’s findings add to the analysis displaying that GLP-1s, a gaggle of diabetes and weight reduction drugs, could have extra well being advantages than boosting weight reduction or regulating blood sugar ranges.
One research printed earlier this month means that the primary substances in Ozempic and Mounjaro could assist some individuals overcome drug and alcohol addictions. One other research printed in Might means that semaglutide could assist defend Sort 2 diabetics from kidney failure and power kidney illness.
It additionally helps analysis introduced earlier this yr suggesting a connection between GLP-1s and decreased Alzheimer’s danger amongst Sort 2 diabetics.
However the Thursday research has limitations as a result of it depends on knowledge gathered from digital well being data and requires additional investigation, researchers stated.
“Our results indicate that further research into semaglutide’s use will need to be further investigated through randomized clinical trials so alternative drugs can be tested as a potential treatment for this debilitating illness,” stated Rong Xu, a biomedical informatics professor at Case Western and lead writer of the research.
