Association of semaglutide with reduced incidence and relapse of cannabis use disorder in real-world populations: a retrospective cohort study
Abstract
Cannabis is the most frequently used illicit drug in the United States with more than 45 million users of whom one-third suffer from a cannabis use disorder (CUD). Despite its high prevalence, there are currently no FDA-approved medications for CUD. Patients treated with semaglutide, a glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist (GLP-1RA) approved for treating type 2 diabetes (T2D) and for weight management have reported reduced desire to drink and smoke. Preclinical studies have shown that semaglutide decreased nicotine and alcohol consumption. Preclinical and preliminary clinical evidence of semaglutide’s potential beneficial effects on various substance use disorders led us to evaluate if it pertained to CUD. In this retrospective cohort study of electronic health records (EHRs) from the TriNetX Analytics Network, a global federated health research network of approximately 105.3 million patients from 61 large healthcare organizations in the US, we aimed to assess the associations of semaglutide with both incident and recurrent CUD diagnosis compared to non-GLP-1RA anti-obesity or anti-diabetes medications. Hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) of incident and recurrent CUD were calculated for 12-month follow-up by comparing propensity-score matched patient cohorts. The study population included 85,223 patients with obesity who were prescribed semaglutide or non-GLP-1RA anti-obesity medications, with the findings replicated in 596,045 patients with T2D. In…
How strong is the evidence?
Evidence Hub reads this as a randomized trial, done in people. Its evidence level is 2 of 5 (High · randomized trial). Randomized trials of a reasonable size are the strongest single-study design. Reported size: 596,045 participants or records.
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