Semaglutide Reduces Alcohol Use Disorder Rates

A recent study indicates that semaglutide may reduce the incidence and recurrence of alcohol use disorder (AUD) among patients with obesity. The research, published on May 28 in Nature Communications, was conducted by William Wang and his team at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. They utilized electronic health records from a significant sample size of 83,825 obese patients to explore the relationship between AUD and the use of semaglutide.

The findings are compelling. Compared to other anti-obesity medications, semaglutide was linked with a 50 to 56 percent lower risk for both developing and relapsing into AUD over a 12-month period. This association held true across various demographics, including gender, age, race, and whether the patients had type 2 diabetes (T2DM). The study also involved an additional group of 598,803 patients with T2DM, who exhibited similar results.

The authors of the study concluded that there is a noticeable association between the reduced risk of both the onset and relapse of AUD when semaglutide is prescribed to patients with obesity or T2DM. They emphasize, however, that while these findings offer preliminary evidence suggesting the potential benefits of semaglutide in treating AUD, further randomized clinical trials are essential to confirm its clinical utility for this purpose.