Over 6 million people in the US have dementia, which accounts for over 100,000 deaths each year. Research suggests, however, that around 45% of dementia cases are preventable through modifiable risk factors. Studies also suggest that semaglutide treats several medical conditions that are known risk factors for dementia, such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and obesity.
In the current study, researchers investigated whether a link exists between semaglutide and a lower risk of dementia. To do so, they analyzed three years of electronic health data from over 1.7 million patients with type 2 diabetes in the US. In particular, they compared outcomes among patients taking semaglutide with those taking seven other antidiabetic medications including insulin, metformin, and older-generation GLP-1R-targeting medications. The researchers used a statistical approach that mimics a randomized clinical trial to analyze the data.
Ultimately, semaglutide was linked to a lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease-related dementia than the other seven antidiabetic medications. The link varied for different dementia types, however. Whereas vascular dementia saw a particularly reduced risk, there was no evidence of association for frontotemporal and Lewy body dementias.
“There is no cure or effective treatment for dementia, so this new study provides real-world evidence for its potential impact on preventing or slowing dementia development among at-high risk population,” said lead author of the study, Rong Xu, professor of biomedical informatics at the Center for Artificial Intelligence in Drug Discovery at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in a press release.
“Our results indicate that research into semaglutide’s use for dementia prevention will need to be further investigated through randomized clinical trials,” he added.
Sources: EurekAlert, Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease