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OZEMPIC, WEGOVY NOT ASSOCIATED WITH INCREASED RISK OF SUICIDAL IDEATION, STUDY
FINDS

By
Julia Landwehr
Julia Landwehr
Julia is a news reporter for Health, where she covers breaking and trending news
on health and wellness topics. Before joining Health, Julia held an internship
position at Verywell Health, where she also covered news. Her work has been
featured in The Heights, an independent student newspaper at Boston College, and
Minnesota Monthly.
health's editorial guidelines
Published on January 22, 2024

Fact checked by
Nick Blackmer
Fact checked by Nick Blackmer
Nick Blackmer is a librarian, fact-checker, and researcher with more than 20
years of experience in consumer-facing health and wellness content.
health's fact checking process
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Trending Videos


 * A new study found no association between semaglutide and increased suicidal
   thoughts.1
 * Actually, when compared to other drugs for type 2 diabetes and obesity
   treatments, semaglutide was associated with less risk of suicidal ideation.
 * Experts recommend patients talk to a trusted healthcare professional before
   making any changes to the drugs they take.
   

There appears to be no association between Ozempic and increased suicidal
thoughts, a new study finds.1



The study comes at a time when semaglutide—the active ingredient in Ozempic and
Wegovy—and other similar glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) agonist medications are
under review. 



In July of last year, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) made headlines for
launching a review into GLP-1 medications over reports that some people taking
the drug experienced an increased risk of suicidal ideation and thoughts of
self-harm.2



Additionally, in the U.S., the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is currently
“evaluating the need for regulatory action” against GLP-1 drugs over concerns of
suicidal ideation, alopecia, and aspiration.3



Wegovy does have depression or thoughts of suicide listed as a potential side
effect on its label; Ozempic does not.45



Amidst this increased concern, the new study, published last week in Nature
Medicine, found that people taking semaglutide actually had a lower risk of
suicidal ideation than people taking other drugs.1



The study authors wrote that the results of the study “do not support the
concerns of increased suicidal risk associated with semaglutide raised by the
EMA.”1 



With the popularity of Ozempic, Wegovy, and similar medications, researchers are
looking to find any potential side effects, as well as investigate the
mechanisms behind type 2 diabetes, obesity, and mental health more generally.



This new study is important because it provides an “apples to apples” comparison
between semaglutide and several different medications for type 2 diabetes and
obesity, said Rekha Kumar, MD, MS, associate professor of clinical medicine in
the division of endocrinology at Weill Cornell Medicine. 



“What this shows us overall, is likely that people who have chronic disease such
as obesity and diabetes, likely are more prone to suicidal ideation, [rather
than] it being caused by the GLP-1 class of drugs,” Kumar told Health.




Getty Images / Bloomberg / Contributor

Can Ozempic, Wegovy Cause Hair Loss and Suicidal Ideation? FDA Investigating
GLP-1 Drug Side Effects



COMPARING OZEMPIC, WEGOVY AGAINST OTHER MEDICATIONS 

After seeing the EMA’s report, the researchers were interested in investigating
the potential connection between suicidal ideation and GLP-1 drugs, explained
Rong Xu, PhD, one of the authors of the study and director of the Center for
Artificial Intelligence in Drug Discovery at Case Western Reserve University.



“Because it’s case reports and suicidal ideation can happen for many different
reasons—for underlying health conditions, other stress—and also because this
drug is so popular, any evidence, robust evidence based on a big data [set],
will help people really make decisions about the risk and the benefit of taking
these medications,” Xu told Health. 



The researchers used a large database of patient electronic health records,
allowing them to see what was going on in real time.



The population consisted of two groups—about 240,000 patients who were
prescribed either semaglutide or a non-GLP-1 anti-obesity medication and over
1.5 million patients with type 2 diabetes who were prescribed either semaglutide
or a non-GLP-1 medication. None of the participants had any history of suicidal
thoughts.1



The type 2 diabetes category compared people taking semaglutide to people taking
insulin, metformin, sulfonylureas, and four other anti-diabetes medications.1



The semaglutide for weight loss participants were compared against people taking
anti-obesity drugs bupropion, naltrexone, orlistat, topiramate, phentermine, and
setmelanotide.1



Within each group, the researchers looked for participants with “similar age,
gender, race, socioeconomic status, and medical conditions,” so that they’d have
a more even comparison. 



“We found that people taking [semaglutide] have significantly lower risk for
suicidal ideation compared to similar people taking weight loss drugs or
anti-diabetes drugs,” said Xu. 



These findings were consistent based on ethnicity, age, and gender.1



Among people taking these medications who already had a history of suicidal
ideation, researchers came to the same conclusion—people taking semaglutide were
less likely to have recurrent suicidal ideation.1



“Basically, we [get] a consistent result no matter how we look at the data,” Xu
said. 


Menopausal Women May Benefit From Weight Loss Drugs Like Ozempic, Wegovy



CONNECTION BETWEEN WEIGHT LOSS DRUGS, TYPE 2 DIABETES DRUGS, AND SUICIDAL
IDEATION

According to Xu, the link between obesity and suicidal ideation has been an area
of research for a while.



“Historically, other medicines that were approved for weight loss in the United
States were pulled off the market because of concerns of suicidal ideation,”
said Kumar. “Due to that history, the class of medicines GLP-1s that we’re
talking about are being looked at more closely.”



Though this scrutiny is necessary to protect patients, Kumar believes these
reports of suicidal ideation can be attributed to the condition—obesity or type
2 diabetes—rather than these medications. 



“In this case, it’s not the GLP-1 effect, but rather the experience of living
with a chronic disease that is more associated with suicidality versus the
mechanism of the drug,” she said. 



However, there’s still debate as to what the relationship between anti-obesity
medications, obesity, and mental health looks like. 



A 2022 study of young American adults found no association between obesity and
suicidal ideation.6 In a 2023 article, those same researchers found that weight
discrimination—often associated with obesity—is associated with suicidal
ideation.7



Though it seems to be less scrutinized, there is evidence that people with type
2 diabetes have a higher risk of depression and suicide.8



More research is needed to fully explore how these chronic conditions may be
deteriorating mental health, or if the medications for the conditions are
contributing to mental decline. 



As for why the study found that semaglutide was less likely to raise a person’s
suicidal ideation risk as compared to other type 2 diabetes and obesity drugs,
Xu said it’s unclear. Researchers speculated that it could have something to do
with how semaglutide functions in the brain, though it’s an area for further
study. 



Due to the newness of semaglutide, more research is needed to understand how
these drugs might affect suicidal ideation risk long-term, Xu said.


How Do Ozempic, Mounjaro, Wegovy, and Zepbound Compare?



MANAGING MENTAL HEALTH AND ANTI-OBESITY, ANTI-DIABETES DRUGS 

Xu explained that this research supports the idea that semaglutide may be a good
option for people who experience suicidal ideation and need treatment for type 2
diabetes or obesity.



However, it’s too early to be making clinical recommendations, she clarified.
Semaglutide may not work for everyone and has a host of separate side effects
that could cause issues for certain people. 



“Our data just provides another [source of] evidence so they can make informed
decisions,” Xu said. 



Ultimately, each person must talk to their doctor about the risks and benefits
they might personally experience, rather than relying solely on data.



However, this research should be “reassurance” that in addition to being
effective, semaglutide does seem to be safe, Kumar said.



People with mental health concerns shouldn’t necessarily avoid GLP-1 drugs if
they could benefit from them. However, to take the medication safely, this group
should keep their doctors informed of any issues so they can be properly
monitored or referred to a mental health professional, said Kumar.



Study: These Are the Most Effective Ways to Treat Obesity
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8 Sources
Health.com uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to
support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more
about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and
trustworthy.

 1. Wang W, Volkow ND, Berger NA, Davis PB, Kaelber DC, Xu R. Association of
    semaglutide with risk of suicidal ideation in a real-world cohort. Nat Med.
    Published online January 5, 2024. doi:10.1038/s41591-023-02672-2

 2. European Medicines Agency. EMA statement on ongoing review of GLP-1 receptor
    agonists.

 3. Food and Drug Administration. July - September 2023 | Potential signals of
    serious risks/new safety information identified by the FDA Adverse Event
    Reporting System (FAERS).

 4. National Library of Medicine: DailyMed. Wegovy—semaglutide injection,
    solution [drug label].

 5. National Library of Medicine: DailyMed. Ozempic—semaglutide injection,
    solution [drug label].

 6. Graham C, Frisco M. The relationship between obesity and suicide ideation
    among young adults in the United States. SSM Popul Health. 2022;18:101106.
    doi:10.1016/j.ssmph.2022.101106

 7. Graham CE, Frisco ML. The mental "weight" of discrimination: The
    relationship between perceived interpersonal weight discrimination and
    suicidality in the United States. J Health Soc Behav. 2023;64(4):610-625.
    doi:10.1177/00221465231200634

 8. AbdElmageed RM, Mohammed Hussein SM. Risk of depression and suicide in
    diabetic patients. Cureus. 2022;14(1):e20860. doi:10.7759/cureus.20860




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