Semaglutide seems beneficial for comorbid type 2 diabetes mellitus, tobacco use disorder

For patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and tobacco use disorder (TUD), new use of semaglutide is associated with lower risk of TUD-related health care measures compared with other antidiabetes medications, according to a study published online July 30 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

William Wang, from the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland, and colleagues examined the association of semaglutide with TUD-related health care measures in patients with comorbid T2DM and TUD in an emulation target trial. Seven target trials were emulated among eligible patients comparing the new use of semaglutide with seven other antidiabetes medications. The analyses included 222,942 new users of antidiabetes medications, of whom 5,967 were new users of semaglutide.

The researchers found that compared with other antidiabetes medications, semaglutide was associated with a significantly lower risk for medical encounters for TUD diagnosis, with the strongest association compared with insulins (hazard ratio, 0.68) and the weakest, but statistically significant, association compared with other glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonist medications (hazard ratio, 0.88).

Reduced smoking cessation medication prescription and reduced counseling were seen in association with semaglutide. Patients with and without a diagnosis of obesity had similar findings.

“Although our results may be consistent with the hypothesis that semaglutide might be beneficial for smoking cessation, study limitations preclude firm conclusions and should not be interpreted to justify clinicians’ use of semaglutide off-label for smoking cessation,” the authors write.

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