Diabetes drug Ozempic linked to better mental health
GLP-1 receptor agonist drugs, commonly used to treat diabetes and obesity, are associated with a reduced need for hospital care and sickness absence due to mental ill-health in people with depression or anxiety. This is according to a large, register-based study published in The Lancet Psychiatry by researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, the University of Eastern Finland, and Griffith University in Australia.
Diabetes and obesity are associated with an increased risk of mental ill-health, and vice versa. In the present study, researchers examined how GLP-1 drugs such as Ozempic, used to treat type 2 diabetes and obesity, may affect the risk of sickness absence and hospital care due to mental health symptoms.
Reduced risk of mental ill-health
The study included more than 95,000 participants diagnosed with depression or anxiety who were prescribed various antidiabetic medications, 22,480 of whom had used GLP-1 drugs. Participants were followed through Swedish national registers between 2009 and 2022. The researchers compared periods when the same individuals used antidiabetic medications with periods when they did not.
The results varied between different GLP-1 drugs. Semaglutide (the active ingredient in Ozempic) was associated with a significant reduction in sickness absence and hospital care due to psychiatric reasons. During periods of semaglutide use, the reduction was 42 per cent, compared with periods when the medication was not used. More specifically, the risk reduction was 44 per cent for sickness absence or hospital care due to depression, 38 per cent for anxiety disorders, and 47 per cent for substance use.
Clinical trials are needed
Liraglutide was associated with an 18 per cent lower risk of sickness absence and hospital care due to psychiatric reasons, while no significant risk reduction was seen for other GLP-1 drugs (exenatide and dulaglutide). However, GLP-1 drugs as a group were associated with a reduced risk of self-harm.
“Our findings suggest that GLP-1 drugs, particularly semaglutide, might contribute to better mental health in people with diabetes and obesity, but since this was an observational study, controlled clinical trials are needed to confirm the results,” says the study’s last author, Jari Tiihonen, specialist physician and professor at the Centre for Psychiatry Research, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet.
The study was funded by the Sigrid Jusélius Foundation. Several of the authors have participated in research projects funded by grants from Janssen to their employing institution, and some of them, including Professor Tiihonen, have connections to other pharmaceutical companies. See the scientific article for a full disclosure of conflicts of interest.
Publication:
Association between GLP-1 receptor agonist use and worsening mental illness in people with depression and anxiety in Sweden: a national cohort study, Heidi Taipale, Mark Taylor, Markku Lähteenvuo, Ellenor Mittendorfer-Rutz, Antti Tanskanen, Jari Tiihonen, The Lancet Psychiatry, online 19 mars 2026, doi: 10.1016/S2215-0366(26)00014-3.