Leo Sher, M.D.

A research report, “Most GLP-1 medications correlated with a lower likelihood of anxiety and depression diagnoses” was published in Epic Research on February 6, 2024 (1).

Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist (GLP-1) medications are used for glucose control in diabetic patients and for weight management in obese patients. The authors studied the potential relationship between GLP-1 medications and psychiatric diagnoses after starting the medications in 3,081,254 diabetic patients and 929,174 non-diabetic patients. The data originate from Cosmos, a collaboration of Epic health systems which contain more than 233 million patient records from 1,325 hospitals and more than 28,900 clinics from all 50 U.S. States and Lebanon.

The authors found that patients with diabetes prescribed tirzepatide, semaglutide, dulaglutide, and exenatide are less likely to be diagnosed with depression after starting the medication compared to those not on a GLP-1 medication. The probability of anxiety in diabetic patients is lower for those on all five GLP-1 medications studied. Among non-diabetic patients, semaglutide is correlated with a lower likelihood of depression and anxiety, while liraglutide showed no statistically significant difference compared to those on non-GLP-1 weight management medications.

Reference

1. Miller A, Joyce B, Bartelt K, Deckert J. Most GLP-1 Most GLP-1 medications correlated with a lower likelihood of anxiety and depression diagnoses. Epic Research, February 6, 2024. URL: https://epicresearch.org/articles/most-glp-1-medications-correlated-with-a-lower-likelihood-of-anxiety-and-depression-diagnoses. Accessed on February 18, 2024.