A new study looked at the influence of popular weight-loss drugs on medical care related to tobacco use.
ADVERTISEMENTBlockbuster diabetes and weight-loss medications such as Ozempic and Wegovy may help people stop smoking, according to a new study, but clinical trials are needed to confirm the potential link.
The research found the main ingredient in these drugs, semaglutide, was associated with a lower risk for medical encounters related to tobacco-use disorder compared with seven other anti-diabetes medications including insulin.
The study, published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, compared nearly 223,000 new users of anti-diabetes medications, including nearly 6,000 users of semaglutide. The patients had type 2 diabetes and tobacco use disorder.
Semaglutide was also linked to a lower risk of being prescribed smoking cessation medication and counselling. Those who used the drug were less likely to need tobacco-related healthcare encounters compared to patients taking other medications within the first month of their prescription.
The study's authors from the US National Institute on Drug Abuse, US National Institutes of Health and Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine outlined several limitations.
For instance, the study did not measure current nicotine intake or information on the number of cigarettes patients consumed per day.
Rachel Richardson, methods support unit manager at the British organisation Cochrane who was not involved in the study, said in a statement that the findings were interesting as smoking is still a global health problem.
“The nature of the study design means that its findings would need to be examined in large randomised controlled trials before we could conclude that semaglutide might have an impact on smoking cessation,” Richardson said.
One key limitation, she pointed out, is that the reduction in medical encounters could indicate either a reduction in tobacco use or that people are less willing to seek help.
Reports of patients on semaglutide having a reduced desire to smoke prompted interest in the topic.
Semaglutide was previously linked by some of the same authors to a lower risk of alcohol use disorder.
Cigarette smoking is the leading cause of preventable death globally, killing more than 8 million people a year, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
Researchers said the findings showed a need for clinical trials to evaluate the drug’s potential to treat tobacco use disorder.
