Medication for Weight Loss Is Also Effective in Stopping Smoking

30 July 2024 – There is an unexpected added benefit for users of diabetic and weight reduction medications like Ozempic and Wegovy: they show promise in aiding individuals in quitting smoking.

Results released on Tuesday in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine showed that patients taking semaglutide, the active ingredient in Ozempic, had a 32% lower chance of visits related to tobacco use disorder than patients taking other anti-diabetes medications, such as insulin. The scientific name for a pattern of tobacco usage that suggests addiction or dependency is tobacco use disorder.

In order to conduct the study, researchers examined the electronic health data of over 6,000 type 2 diabetics receiving semaglutide, which is sold under the brands Wegovy and Ozempic for disorders associated to obesity and overweight. The researchers examined whether patients received a diagnosis of tobacco use disorder during medical appointments, were prescribed medicine to help them stop smoking, or were sent to smoking cessation counselling in order to assess the effect of semaglutide on tobacco addiction. 

Semaglutide users were less likely than those on other anti-diabetes medications to receive a prescription for a substance to help them quit smoking or a referral for counselling on quitting smoking, in addition to having a lower chance of receiving a medical visit linked to a diagnosis of a tobacco use problem.

The advantages seemed to be the same for obese and non-obesity individuals.

Before starting semaglutide, none of the research participants had taken any other anti-diabetes drugs in the year prior. They all began taking the medication between December 2017 and March 2023. When participants started taking semaglutide, the effects were most noticeable after 30 days, although they persisted for around 180 days before generally plateauing.

After reading many accounts of patients using the medication reporting a decreased urge to smoke, the researchers made the decision to investigate the subject.

The study’s limitations stem from the fact that it was an observational analysis of participants’ medical records and did not account for real tobacco use, urges, or smoking cessation.giving up smoking is usually accompanied with weight gain.