Weight loss, diabetes drugs present mental health benefits—study
A new study has found a connection between weight loss drugs and mental health.
According to a study published in The Lancet, GLP-1 medications, which are usually prescribed to treat diabetes and promote weight loss, may also bring mental health benefits.
GLP-1 medications are typically prescribed to people with type 2 diabetes, to manage their blood sugar. Recently, doctors have also begun to use the medicines to induce weight loss.
Using data from nearly 100,000 people, researchers found that patients who take GLP-1 prescription drugs didn't require as much hospital care as those who were not on the medications.
The GLP-1 patients were also observed to experience fewer cases of worsening mental health. While patients were taking the medications, they had 42% less need to be admitted into the hospital for psychiatric care or take an extended sick leave compared to the periods when the same patients were not taking the GLP-1 drugs, the most common of which are semaglutide, liraglutide, and tizepatide.
Based on the researchers' data, people with diabetes are more prone to developing depression and anxiety since their impaired glycemic control can lead to poor self-worth and low mood.
Additionally, the study found that with the regular use of semaglutide, patients experienced depression 44% less. Anxiety disorders also dropped by 38%. Issues related to substance use were reduced by half; self-harm incidents likewise dropped. Consequently, these patients no longer needed to take as many absences from work due to mental health issues.
Since "depression and anxiety disorders are common causes for sickness absences from work in many countries," researchers found that the drugs' ability to help reduce extended sick leave from work would be beneficial, particularly for employers.
The study, though, stated, as well, that the results may apply only in health-care systems similar to that in Sweden, "where health and social care are provided free at the point of service to all residents, with minimal out-of-pocket costs."
Researchers from the University of Eastern Finland led the study, in collaboration with Sweden's Karolinska Institutet and Australia's Griffith University. The group monitored its hundreds of thousands of subjects between 2009 and 2022.
