GLP-1s tied to a ‘particularly noteworthy’ decrease in likelihood of a dementia diagnosis

Key takeaways:

• Patients prescribed GLP-1s had up to a 44% reduced likelihood of a dementia diagnosis.
• The results show the importance of considering cognitive health in patients with diabetes, a researcher said.

Several glucagon-like peptide-1, or GLP-1, receptor agonists may be associated with reduced risk for a dementia diagnosis in older adults with diabetes, according to a recent study from Epic Research.

The findings add to research on links between diabetes medications and the development of cognitive disorders.

“The reduced likelihood of dementia among patients prescribed GLP-1 medications, ranging from 23% to 44%, is significant,” Kristen Bartelt, RN, a research clinician with Epic Research, told Healio.

She added that the consistency of the decreased likelihood of dementia diagnosis across the different medications “was particularly noteworthy.”

Past studies have reported associations between GLP-1 receptor agonists and dementia, with some suggesting a reduced dementia risk after starting the medication and others “indicating variability depending on how these medications cross the blood-brain barrier,” Bartlet and colleagues wrote.

In the current study — which did not undergo peer review — the researchers assessed the likelihood of a dementia diagnosis within 5 years of starting a GLP-1 receptor agonist or another diabetes medication using a cohort of 549,822 patients aged 60 years or older with type 2 diabetes.

The GLP-1 receptor agonists studied included semaglutide (Wegovy/Ozempic, Novo Nordisk), exenatide (Bydureon, AstraZeneca), liraglutide (Saxenda, Novo Nordisk) and dulaglutide (Trulicity, Eli Lilly).

The researchers adjusted for several factors, including BMI and HbA1c at baseline, Social Vulnerability Index, sex, age, race and ethnicity and insulin use history.

Meanwhile, they defined dementia as vascular and nonvascular dementias and Alzheimer’s disease.

Bartelt and colleagues found that patients prescribed semaglutide were 44% less likely to receive a dementia diagnosis vs. those who received a medication that was not a GLP-1 receptor agonist.

Meanwhile, patients prescribed exenatide, liraglutide and dulaglutide had a 32%, 27% and 23% lower likelihood of receiving a dementia diagnosis, respectively.

The data “[underscore] the importance of considering long-term cognitive health when managing a patient’s diabetes,” Bartelt told Healio.