Diabetes drug ‘Semaglutide’ is effective in preventing Alzheimer’s dementia

[메디컬투데이=최재백 기자] Research results have shown that semaglutide, a type of diabetes treatment, is effective in reducing the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease in patients with type 2 diabetes.

A study published in ‘Alzheimer & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association’ found that semaglutide, a type of diabetes treatment, is more effective in reducing the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease in Alzheimer’s patients. -type 2 diabetes than other diabetes treatments).

In the past, studies have reported that patients with type 2 diabetes are at high risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, a type of dementia that affects memory and behavior. Underlying health conditions associated with type 2 diabetes, such as obesity, heart disease, and high blood pressure, can increase the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, and damage to the blood vessels that supply blood to the brain can result. diabetes has further increased the risk of diabetes. dementia.

Accordingly, a research team at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland recently found that semaglutide, the active ingredient in diabetes treatments such as Ozempic, Revelsus, and Wigobi, helps reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease in patients with type 2 diabetes.

The research team analyzed the medical records of 1 million American patients with type 2 diabetes not previously diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease over three years and compared the incidence of Alzheimer’s disease when taking semaglutide and when they were taking other diabetes treatments.

In addition to semaglutide, seven diabetes treatments were studied: insulin, metformin, DPP-4 inhibitors, SGLT2 inhibitors, sulfonylureas (SUs), thiazolidinediones (TZDs), and GLP-1 receptor agonists (GLP -1UK). .

The research team noted that semaglutide is a new generation of GLP-1RA, and is used to prevent neurodegeneration and neuroinflammation, and to treat risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease, giving including obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, smoking and drinking.

Therefore, they predicted that semaglutide would directly or indirectly target ‘modifiable risk factors’ and prevent neurodegeneration and neuroinflammation, thereby reducing the risk of Alzheimer’s disease.

As a result of the analysis, the research team reported that patients who were prescribed semaglutide had a 40-70% lower risk of being first diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease compared to patients who were prescribed seven treatments other diabetes.

They said that the effect of semaglutide on reducing the risk of Alzheimer’s disease was similar to obesity, age, and gender, and explained that semaglutide is effective in delaying or preventing the development of Alzheimer’s disease.

In particular, they expected that the effect of semaglutide in preventing Alzheimer’s would be even greater, since previous studies have shown that metformin and other GLP-1RA drugs have a protective effect on Alzheimer’s disease.

However, despite their expectations, they warned that the effectiveness of semaglutide must be confirmed through long-term studies and randomized controlled clinical trials.

The research team announced that they plan to investigate whether semaglutide is effective for neurodegenerative and other neurological diseases through future research and evaluate the effectiveness of tizepatide, a more potent GLP-1RA, in adding prevent Alzheimer’s.

They also said that they will also study the effect of semaglutide on neuroinflammation, mitochondrial function, amyloid beta and tau pathology to try to understand how it reduces the risk of Alzheimer’s disease.

In addition, it was expected that research should be done on whether semaglutide would help people who do not have type 2 diabetes but are at high risk for Alzheimer’s disease.

In addition, experts said that it is important to make different efforts to prevent Alzheimer’s disease, focusing on high-risk groups that have an increased risk of cognitive decline and depression due to the disease of the t – sugar type 2.

They emphasized that since Alzheimer’s disease is an incurable progressive neurodegenerative disease, efforts should be made to develop effective preventive measures that reduce the burden on patients, their families, and the health care system.

Medical Today Reporter Jaebaek Choi ([email protected])

[저작권자ⓒ 메디컬투데이. 무단전재-재배포 금지]